2003’s “Wrong Turn” spawned a surprising franchise. Five sequels and this 2021 reboot demonstrate that screenwriter Alan B. McElroy’s premise has (deformed) legs that have continued to provide bloody scares for audiences. After six films in the original continuity, a reboot seems timely and could continue to capitalize on the potential of city people encountering…
In case you’re wondering, the big moral or theme of Jay Baruchel’s Random Acts of Violence is that we should be careful when creating works that depict over-the-top violence, lest some unstable fan decides to give literal life to your most gruesome imagined scenes. At least that’s what I got out of this middling, piddling,…
Familiar elements can be clichéd but also useful. Emphasize a particular trope too much and it becomes tired and tedious. Use a trope carefully, especially when connected to other tropes within a wider framework, and the various pieces can add up to a satisfying whole. The key aspect here is judicious treatment, ensuring that the…
For teenagers and storytellers alike, it is a cliché to say that high school is hell. The Dead Ones takes this concept rather literally, in the first of a series of clichés featured in this problematic and not very scary teen horror. A central quartet, who appear to hail from the same archetype roster as…
Girl, written, directed and starring Chad Faust (“Better Start Running”), is effective when it comes to mood and atmosphere. The problem, however, is that there isn’t enough substance to make Faust’s stylish choices mean something, so this thriller comes across as more empty that gratifying. It begins with the titular “Girl” (Bella Thorne, “The Babysitter:…
The opening supertext of Wander draws attention to “indigenous, black, and people of color,” refers to “government violences,” and “change,” and highlights that the film was shot on the homelands of indigenous peoples. Released in 2020 shortly after the presidential election, it is tempting to see this film in the light of progressive change and…
On what appears to be just an average evening, a grinning pizza delivery man (David Harper, “The Clean Bones Gone”) walks through an alleyway carrying a pizza box, heading towards his next address. He’s dressed in a red polo shirt and a red visor, and we quickly discover he’s carrying a plastic bag — a…
