Movie Roundup #2

Shrieker - Tubi

A young student living as a squatter in an abandoned hospital with her fellow students discovers one of her “roommates” plans to resurrect a demonic killer.

You gotta love 90s horror movies. There’s an earnestness to them that makes them fun to watch. I sometimes feel like contemporary horror has a jaded cynicism to them, but that could also just be me!

It was dumb and fun. Why do these folk never have any really good reasons for summoning a demon? Yes, that’s a me problem. Anyway, there were no big surprises here. The acting was passable, the script got a movie made.

Put this on to clean out your e-mail, which is what I did. 2.5 stars.

The Offering - Hulu

In the wake of a young Jewish girl’s disappearance, the son of a Hasidic funeral director returns home with his pregnant wife in hopes of reconciling with his father. Little do they know that directly beneath them in the family morgue, an ancient evil with sinister plans for the unborn child lurks inside a mysterious corpse.

Every once in awhile I need to cleanse my movie palate with a really good contemporary horror movie, and this did not disappoint!

I usually shy away from demon-wants-my-baby movies, they all follow the same pattern and meh. But the Hassidic Jewish culture and mysticism makes this movie stand out. This movie took an oft-seen trope and made it new and interesting. Creepy, atmospheric, and devastating.

Worth it, so worth it. 5 stars.

Satan’s Servant - Tubi

Two teenagers searching for their friend after a mysterious and sudden disappearance discover that they're part of a satanic scheme.

The premise was interesting - I love movies with devil cults - but this story meanders, there is zero tension and it feels as if the cast was ad-libbing. The pacing was slow, the dialog was stilted, and the acting was stiff.

That being said, a little research has told me that this movie was made by teenagers for under 2k. Good for them! Making a movie is hard, I hope they learn from the experience, study movies and continue their journey.

But I’m gonna rate it like any other movie. 2 stars.

Deadly Still - Tubi

An antique camera that produces death scene photos of its photographed subjects falls into the hands of a group of friends stranded at a remote cabin.

Photographs that predict one’s death! Right up my alley.

Dubbed Russian movie. It’s always weird when the subtitles don’t match the audio. But technical issues aside. Fun movie!

My only problem with it is that it slid into “crazy villain” territory when it didn’t have to - we have a mysterious camera that predicts people’s deaths! We don’t need crazy villains! Especially when it doesn’t make any sense or help the movie in any way.

Despite that weird detour, worth the watch. The deaths are acceptably outlandish and disturbing - think Final Destination without the Rube Goldberg machine effect.

Overall worth the watch. 4 stars.