In SLAUGHTERHOUSE RULEZ (2018, streaming on Netflix), troubled teens attending a dysfunctional elite boarding school find themselves fighting for their lives after a nearby fracking operation unleashes subterranean monsters. Another horror-comedy creation of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ fame, SLAUGHTERHOUSE RULEZ doesn’t accomplish much as either horror or comedy, resulting in a passable if forgettable movie, one you’d put in the “turn off your brain and kill some time” category.

The film focuses on Wallace, a teenager from a working-class family given the chance to enroll at an exclusive public school called Slaughterhouse, an opulent institution oppressed by brutal traditions. As he struggles to fit in, a nearby fracking operation unleashes a swarm of hungry monsters from the depths of the earth, and now it’s up to a small group of teens to save the day, with a little help from a teacher (Pegg) and a local environmental protester (Frost).

Writing this, I realize this is going to be a short review. It’s not very funny, lacking the humorous charm of Pegg and Frost’s previous work, and the monsters are hardly menacing. As usual, Pegg plays his role with plenty of raw nerves, being a teacher whose love interest, another teacher, left England to do volunteer work in the Sudan, and he can’t handle the separation. I kind of wanted to see THAT movie, him and Frost doing their thing, and leave out those meddling kids who are likeable enough but acting out a plot that is mostly going through the motions.

Anyway, again, SLAUGHTERHOUSE RULEZ is fine. It was nothing special for me, but it made a passable watch on yet another night in lockdown.

In HOMUNCULUS (2021, streaming on Netflix), a Japanese film based on the manga by Hideo Yamamoto, the line between truth and illusion dissolves when a homeless amnesiac undergoes a medical procedure that gives him the ability to visualize people’s innermost traumas. Packed with interesting ideas and enough human drama to be engaging, this is one of those films I tried on a lark with minimal expectations and found to be a real gem.

Nokoshi lives in his car next to a park, unable to remember much about his past, unable to feel much of anything. One night, he is visited by Ito, a strange young man who is a medical intern experimenting with trepanning, an ancient medical procedure of drilling a hole in the skull that goes back to the age of Neanderthals. (Some theorize it was a medical procedure to relieve brain swelling, but there is substantial evidence is was ritually performed among some peoples to allow spirits to pass in and out of the body. Today, some believe trepanning increases brain metabolism and can be used to achieve a higher state of consciousness, allowing one to experience the world like a child.) Nokoshi agrees to the procedure in the hope he will be cured of his amnesia and be able to feel again.

The procedure slowly works, but with a catch: Nokoshi can now see people’s traumas visualized as a symbolic part of themselves–a man visualized as a child encased in a robot, and so on. Further, he is able to dissect this trauma, called a homunculus, and take it away from people. A gift and a curse, which lead him back to the source of his own trauma that caused his amnesia, and a discovery that offers both horror and redemption.

I found HOMUNCULUS a terrific movie. Due to its manga origins, it has an episodic feel, and it may strike some viewers as being a little meandering and slow. Watching it, I felt like I was viewing a way darker ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. There’s a sex scene that appears to be assault even though the act is ultimately curative and the result of illusion, which some may find objectionable. Overall, HOMUNCULUS is weird, strong without being demanding, and packing enough titillating ideas to keep me engaged.

BOYS FROM COUNTY HELL (2020, streaming on Shudder) is an Irish vampire film that veers between serious and silly, reaching for SHAUN OF THE DEAD but with an effect that’s fun if a bit flat, at least for me. Still, there was real effort here, and it has heart.

The story takes place in a remote village in Ireland, where the local youth yearn to escape. There’s a tourist draw in the area, an ancient cairn of stones on a farm that reputedly inspired Bram Stoker (who was born in Ireland) to write DRACULA (I could find no actual evidence of there being an Irish inspiration; by all accounts, Stoker was inspired by visits to Scotland and a coastal English town). Anyway, Eugene, one of the locals, gets a construction job with his father Francie to start digging a new road bypass through the farm, which will result in the cairn being demolished. This awakens an ancient vampire and a fight for survival.

The story is played as a horror comedy, begging for comparisons to films like SHAUN OF THE DEAD, where the characters are charming and humorous enough that silliness and plot holes become easily forgiven. BOYS FROM COUNTY HELL seems to play it both ways: Instead of punctuating the comedy with sorrowful moments, it veers fairly evenly between these extremes, with the result that neither quite came off for me. Still, once the SHTF, the film gains lift and becomes a fairly good time, and the characters are likeable enough they contribute to the general sense of fun.

Overall, as you’ve probably gathered, I didn’t love this one, but it does have a lot of heart, and I found it fun and charming enough to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

THE BANISHING (2020, streaming on Shudder) is a competently done haunted house thriller with a few David Lynch-style elements thrown into ratchet up the tension, and despite great sets, solid performances, and a decent creep factor at times, it all comes in for a fairly rote if jumbled conclusion with a strange, left-field denouement that may leave some wondering.

It’s the 1930s, and Linus, a pastor, moves into a church with his wife Marianne and daughter Adelaide. Unknown to them, the previous pastor left his post under grisly circumstances, and locals, including occultist Harry Reed (played in intense scene-chewing fashion by Sean Harris), believe the house is cursed. Reed knows its history, including the dark monks who once practiced there. Told primarily through Marianne’s view, we see the family slowly get torn apart by the house, demanding Marianne use every bit of strength she has to resist and reclaim her family.

It’s all good haunted house stuff, and the film plays it with some terrific strengths, notably great sets, a backdrop of England on the eve of war with Germany, a nice mystery about the house, and some solid acting, again notably Harris. There are some odd, almost jarring David Lynch-style effects laid on in the beginning, which help set an off-kilter tone.

As the film wears on, however, the climax allows some very convenient problem solving and brings the film in for a very soft landing in which too many things are left unexplained. Then there’s a denouement that simply did not pay off for me. We don’t really get to know any of the major characters as well, and they don’t have character arcs where they have a flaw that must be corrected to survive, leaving significant storytelling stakes on the table and flattening the film’s emotional effect.

Overall, though, I think it’s fairly well done, and if you treat it as a cozy haunted house story and keep your expectations in check, it’s pretty solid and worth a watch.