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‘Backrooms’ Review – A Bit Lost in Its Own Liminal Space

A new generation of horror auteurs is upon us and the box office is booming! Following the crazy success of Obsession, this week Backrooms is hitting theatres, the latest from A24 and the first for director Kane Parsons. Parsons also co-produced the score with Ido Van Breemen. The film was written by Will Soodik and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, a furniture store owner, and Renate Reinsve as Clark’s therapist Mary. Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett as Bobby Roberts, and Lukita Maxwell round out the supporting cast. So is Backrooms a movie worth getting lost in or not worth exploring? Also, if you prefer a video review, we’ve got you covered! Verdict Before I get into more specific spoiler-free thoughts on the film, I like to lead with my verdict and unfortunately I’m giving this a dislike rating on the heart-o-meter. It’s closer to a mid than a hate, mostly because of how impressed I was with Kane Parsons’ direction and the performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor. But overall the movie was just too long, and the three exceptional horror sequences in it weren’t enough to outweigh all the bloat. Spoiler-Free Thoughts Full disclosure, I wasn’t familiar with Backrooms or the concept before I saw this movie. So if this is one of those cases where it’s made by fans for fans, that went right over my head and is not something I can weigh in on or give you any sort of insight into whether or not they were accurate to all the lore. Related to that though, this movie unfortunately made me think a lot about Iron Lung, which I haven’t thought about since we finished the podcast episode on that where I went scorched earth because I really did not like that movie. I will say I thought this was exceptionally better than that film but it also is plagued by a lot of the same issues. It’s clear the creative team really likes the backrooms concept, and they’re so passionate about it that it just doesn’t translate to people that maybe don’t share that familiarity with it. And like Iron Lung, I thought the pacing of this movie was brutal. Backrooms is shorter, but it still was too long for what it was, to the point where people around me were yawning frequently and the theatre was mostly quiet the entire time. At an hour forty-five, the movie was just too long and really only had the three sequences in it that I mentioned before that are really good. They were so good in fact that every time they weren’t doing something like that, all I wanted was to get back to those creepy moments. There’s a lot of unnecessary scenes too of characters talking or dropping backstory that didn’t really add much to the film. There was even a scene where they were shooting a commercial for the store that felt totally unnecessary. A great example of this is Mark Duplass’ role in this film, which could have been entirely removed and all of the things around it cut from the film, and it would have changed absolutely nothing important. In fact, I thought the inclusion of his character ruined the mystery of the Backrooms but also didn’t provide enough answers to make it more clear. I felt by simultaneously giving too much and not enough, I got left in a purgatory where I would’ve preferred it to be less explained and more of a mystery which would have helped trim the runtime and help the pacing issues. I thought Renate Reinsve was fine in the movie. She was just another one of those characters that functionally I didn’t think really added a whole lot, and was really just a plot necessity to carry us into the end of the film. The third act where her character becomes more involved also is the weakest chunk of the film. While it did feel too long, it also felt like a chunk of the movie was missing. After the second act is concluded with one of the great Backrooms sequences, by the time we return to that character, so much has changed and happened without any real cohesive explanation. This caused the ending to feel very messy and overall pretty unsatisfying too. Now with all that said, I didn’t hate this movie and I want to give a lot of love to Kane Parsons, who was 19 when he made this movie. There is some exceptional direction here, and it was easily the strongest point of the film. There was clearly a lot of thought put into almost every shot, and the strongest examples of this were these handheld shots on like an oldschool VHS camcorder. I loved the look and the feel of those sequences and how they showed off the exceptional set design that was going on. For anyone unfamiliar with the Backroom look, it made me think almost of a bad AI prompt in a way, as if you told AI to make an office building and this is kind of what it’s spit out. The makeup and costumes were fantastic too with a handful of things that I won’t spoil but that fit the vibe perfectly. These factors are what made those three sequences stand out from the rest of the film. I felt like they definitely could have kept going back to that well and really drawing out the tension before revealing what was also inside the Backrooms. I have zero concerns about Kane Parsons as a filmmaker and I’m really excited though to see what he can do with a better script. Conclusion Overall this just didn’t add up to a movie that I can enthusiastically recommend, but I will say that early reviews are a little more positive than I am on this film, so if you are intrigued by it, don’t let this review be the reason you don’t go to see it! We started Screen Love Affair because we love movies, so if you’re intrigued by this film, go see

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‘Backrooms’ Review – A Bit Lost in Its Own Liminal Space

Reviews / Shea Angus

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‘Undertone’ Review: A Nerve-Shredding, Audio Driven Nightmare

EDITOR’S NOTE: Our review was originally written after we screened the film at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival. A year later, our opinion hasn’t changed! Go see this film with a big crowd at the theatre with the best sound possible. If you’re Canadian and have access to an AVX theatre, we definitely think it’ll be worth the premium ticket cost. Our coverage of the Fantasia Film Festival is rolling on, even if the Festival has officially wrapped! One movie I absolutely need to talk about is The Undertone, because it’s undoubtedly one of my favourite movies that I saw at the festival. The setup is simple: “A podcast host covering spooky content moves in to care for her dying mother. When sent recordings of a pregnant couple’s paranormal encounters, she discovers their story parallels hers, each tape pushing her toward madness.” The film was written and directed by Ian Tuason and stars Nina Kiri as Evy, the podcast host who moves in with her mother. As usual, this review will be spoiler-free, so don’t be scared to dive in! My Thoughts If you read our Best Movies of 2023, you’ll know that Skinamarink was #2 on my list. Like that movie, The Undertone is all about doing the most to bring horror back to its base elements of sights and especially sounds. Unlike Skinamarink, though, I think this movie is more accessible. The Undertone is shot simply but to maximum effect. I won’t even describe specific shots because it would lessen their impact. I will say it’s the kind of movie where you’re constantly checking the corners and edges of the frame to make sure nothing is hiding there. As a seasoned horror movie veteran, I consider movies like this to be the scariest kind I’ve ever seen. It’s easy to drop the audio and then suddenly blast loud music and have something jump into frame, that’s why 90% of horror movies are crammed full of jump scares. But eventually, you start to see them coming from a mile away, and they don’t even impact you. The Undertone, like Skinamarink before it, understands that tension is what really makes an audience uncomfortable. Jump scares are releases of tension, so you may jump when one happens, but it’s not real fear or stress. This movie uses the frame and sound design to maximize that tension. Every time the main character put on her noise-cancelling headphones to start recording the podcast, I would hold my breath as the ambient sounds of the house went silent and all you could hear was the muffled hum of the headphones, as if I was also wearing them. The brilliance of this is that it makes the audience feel like a part of the movie, anxiously watching over Evy while she’s recording the podcast to try and see if anything spooky is happening in the house, as if we could burst in to warn her. The camera work enhances this, too. Simple movements give us the opportunity to scan the house looking for something, anything, that might be where it shouldn’t be. The fact that I’m talking about all this horror and dread, without even discussing the tapes they’re listening to on the podcast, should really tell you just how much this movie got under my skin. The podcast within the movie is a completely distinct source of dread in its own right too, where they play anonymously submitted audio tapes of a different paranormal encounter. The tapes themselves are creepy as hell, and the characters constantly rewind and replay key moments over and over again to try and hear certain things, which naturally means we the audience end up doing the same thing. Nina Kiri as Evy is phenomenal in this too, selling everything perfectly, dialing up everything we’re collectively feeling. As our only real onscreen character in the movie, she has to be strong enough to carry you through, and she does it with absolute ease. Lastly, I have to mention Ian Tuason, who is outstanding in his directorial debut. The things that make this movie so effective seem very simple on the surface, but they’re incredibly hard to actually pull off convincingly, which is why so many other horror directors just rely on jump scares. From nearly the very beginning, Tuason starts ratcheting the tension higher and higher, barely giving you the room to breathe, and just when you feel like it’s safe to let your guard down, it’s not. Verdict Not only did I love The Undertone, it was confidently a “Best of the Fest” movie for me. This movie proves that you don’t need millions of dollars or elaborate sets to make an incredibly effective horror movie. The tension was so next level that by the end of the movie, I wasn’t sitting in my seat, I was welded to it. Without question, The Undertone is best enjoyed at a theatre, and I’m happy to report that it was just announced that A24 has acquired the rights for this movie, so I hope that means it will be coming with a nice theatrical run too. When it does, don’t wait around. See this movie on opening weekend with a packed crowd and immerse yourself in this movie. Just don’t expect to ever feel comfortable wearing noise-cancelling headphones at home again.

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‘Materialists’ Review – The Most Cynical Rom-Dramedy of the Year is a Baffling Mess

Reviews / frederic.simard@me.com

Following up Past Lives was always going to be difficult in my estimation. That movie is one that remains near and dear to my heart. It’s a movie that has affected me emotionally in ways I’m almost embarrassed to admit. So it’s conflicting to come away from Celine Song’s second feature Materialists feeling so . . . conflicted.On the one hand, I like that it pulls a fast one on its audience. The way the film is marketed, the premise, the cast of beautiful actors playing beautiful people living in New York City—all of these things set you up to expect a classic rom-com, the kind that were everywhere in the 1990s and early 2000s. I expect a lot of people who watched the trailer for this and went in thinking they would get just that will be sorely disappointed. Rather than a light, airy rom-com, Materialists is, in some ways, interested in subverting the tropes of the traditional rom-com. These are the parts of the movie I quite liked. It’s refreshingly honest about the vapidness of modern dating, the way that relationships have always been rooted in a sort of transactional exchange, be it financial, social, or otherwise. Despite that, we still have to believe that love—true love, the kind we’ve been conditioned to expect from the kind of movies this one appears to be at first glance—is possible. It’s an absurd thing that I think Song is interested in exploring. How can relationships be materialistic, value-based, and quantifiable, yet love, the driving force behind most of them, remains completely intangible and unpredictable? Dakota Johnson, I’d argue, is perfectly cast as Lucy, an emotionally inscrutable woman who works as a matchmaker and believes that love is just a mathematical problem, an equation that can be solved. She wants material comfort, and that’s where Pedro Pascal’s Harry comes in. He’s rich, handsome, but also kind—what they call a unicorn in Lucy’s profession. But, in classic rom-com fashion, she’s faced with another romantic option in the form of her broke, wannabe-actor ex, played by Chris Evans. The irony of the film, of course, is that while Lucy ostensibly trades in love, she has no idea what it really is. Love is the one thing that can upset her worldview, because it’s not quantifiable or predictable or about checking boxes on a sheet of paper. This is quite interesting, and I suspect the movie’s view of modern dating and love will resonate with a lot of people. However, while the potential to explore these questions and ideas is high, the movie fumbles in its execution. Whereas Past Lives was quiet and understated and subtle, Materialists hits you with its themes over the head. Despite that, I couldn’t quite get a lock on what the movie wanted me to take away. It’s in many ways deeply deeply cynical about dating and our ability to connect through a consumerist approach to relationships that places value and material qualities over everything else. Yet, the ending seems to go back and reinstate the rom-com fantasy of love without irony. There’s some ambiguity there, but it’s not enough to make the film feel cohesive based on what was presented to us earlier. I couldn’t tell if the characters were intended to be broad cyphers to prove the film’s point, with performances to match—or if they were just poorly written and poorly acted. Or maybe it’s that the movie is simply more interested in philosophizing about modern dating and love and the role of value in romantic relationships than it is in creating believable fully realized characters. You’d think a romance would offer more insight into the inner lives of its characters, yet we hardly know anything about them beyond their professions. Ironically, the movie seems to treat them sort of like merchandise, despite its thesis supposedly being that people can’t be reduced to a marketable list of features. It’s quite likely I went into this movie with too-high expectations, and that impacted my viewing experience. But it’s also a very inconsistent and, in many ways, strange and inscrutable movie. There are tonal shifts that don’t completely work. The movie’s sense of humour is subtle and largely worked for me, but then it’s also quite serious and there’s a heavy subplot that feels very underserved, which largely didn’t work for me. Despite all these criticisms, I didn’t hate the movie. There’s a lot here that I did like and thought was smart, and the movie is undeniably nice to look at (beautifully shot on film). But the more I sit with it, the more confused I am about what it’s actually trying to say. Verdict As someone who adored Past Lives, I wanted to love Materialists so badly. But the predominant feeling I left the theatre with was confusion. I think there are elements here that are very compelling, and at least the movie is trying to do something interesting with age-old formulas and themes. However, the baffling tonal shifts, odd performances, and unclear messaging make the overall package hard to buy into. If you want to hear more, check out our Materialists podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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‘Bring Her Back’ Review – It’ll Make You Squirm, But Will It Stick With You?

Reviews / Shea Angus

Bring Her Back is the sophomore effort from Danny and Michael Philippou, after the critically and commercially successful release of their first film Talk To Me. Danny and Michael are twin brothers from Australia who you may know from their successful YouTube Channel RackaRacka. Bring Her Back stars Billy Barratt, Sora Wong and Sally Hawkins. You know we like to avoid spoilers here at SLA, and luckily the synopsis for this movie gives you just the right amount of setup: “A brother and sister uncover a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother.” So is Bring Her Back a welcome addition to the family, or one you’ll want to disown? My Thoughts First, I think it makes the most sense to start with my feelings about Talk to Me because overall I feel pretty similar about both movies. I was a little less excited by it than most people were. I was definitely impressed by how solid the movie was considering it was their first crack at a feature film, but when the movie ended I was just left feeling like something was missing. Unfortunately, I felt something similar with Bring Her Back. However, I still think overall that I liked this one more! One of the best parts about it for me was Sally Hawkins. Without getting into details, she was perfectly casted as someone that has such a sweet and innocent look to them, but also was believable when she’s doing much darker things too. Genuinely, this was perfect casting. Billy and Sora play Andy and Piper, the brother and sister duo and our main characters. They were both solid in their roles. Jonah Wren Phillips, who plays Oliver, a child that is living with Sally Hawkins’ character Laura, probably has a tougher assignment here given the oddities of that character, but he’s also very solid. Outside the characters though, the movie shines brightest when it starts playing more with some of these horror elements. Particularly the sound design. It’s been a few days now since I saw the movie, and one moment in particular hasn’t left my head and it makes me shudder when I think about it. But for my money, I didn’t feel like there was enough of these moments. Because they’re so effective and well done, it become noticeable when a bunch of time would pass and nothing too creepy or unsettling would happen. At the same time though, I didn’t feel the movie was too heavy about its themes either, specifically as it relates to grief and losing family members. They’re definitely there and prominent enough, but I don’t feel like we were focusing on too many moments to reaffirm these themes at the expense of these more tense and gnarly horror moments. And really, this is where my feelings about the movie leave me a little stumped. I was enjoying this ride but ultimately, when we get to the ending, I couldn’t help but shake this feeling that something was missing. I think the biggest issue with both of these movies is that they don’t wrap up in a way that feels totally satisfying. I really like when a movie fades to black for the end credits and I feel stuck in my head. Either I’m blown away by what I just saw, or I’m left speechless contemplating the feelings the movie has elicited from me. But this movie just left me feeling a bit more hollow. Verdict Even with my lack of feelings as the credits rolled, I still had a good time and I think many of you will, too. The journey hits harder than the destination, packed with enough sharp horror beats to make even a genre veteran like me wince and squirm with the rest of the crowd. Writing this, I kept thinking about something Brandon and I discussed on Talkies about how Final Destination movies (to me at least) are just attempts at forgettable fun built on a great hook. Bring Her Back could’ve landed in that same category, but there’s real talent behind the camera here. It might not leave a lasting mark, but I’ve seen plenty of movies with much bigger budgets and none of the guts, skill, or sharp edges this movie brings.

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‘Opus’ Review – Malkovich Mesmerizes, but Does the Movie?

Reviews / Shea Angus

Opus is the directorial debut for writer/director Mark Anthony Green and stars Ayo Edebiri as Ariel Ecton, our main character and an aspiring writer, and John Malkovich as Alfred Moretti, a musician with a Prince-esque aura and the global popularity of Michael Jackson. The synopsis reads: “A young writer is invited to the remote compound of a legendary pop star who mysteriously disappeared thirty years ago. Surrounded by the star’s cult of sycophants and intoxicated journalists, she finds herself in the middle of his twisted plan.” The film is still listed on Google as a musical/horror which it most certainly is not. There are no musical numbers in the traditional sense, but there is music throughout the movie. I’d personally classify this as more of a thriller but I’ll talk more about that later. So, is Opus as compelling as John Malkovich? Let’s talk! My Thoughts First, let’s clear the air about the genre. I went into this movie without seeing a trailer or anything and all I knew was that Google listed it as a musical/horror. I love horror movies but I’m decidedly much less enthusiastic about traditional musicals and I was expecting that I’d strongly dislike the movie as a result. I said if I had to pick a genre, I’d call it a thriller but even that feels like a bit of a stretch because there aren’t many thrills to be had here either. That’s probably my biggest issue with the movie overall too. You’ve probably seen movies like this a ton, especially in the last handful of years even. We’ve got it all including a cult compound in a remote area, creepy people, odd quasi-religious ideas, and even murder to make a point about something. Some movies can afford to be formulaic if they have a standout element, and Opus achieves that with the perfect casting of John Malkovich. I’m a known Nicolas Cage fan, so odd, eccentric performances really work for me and from the first moment we see Malkovich, you could tell he was having a lot of fun with this role. Because of his unique aura as an actor, you immediately are able to buy in that he’s a global phenomenon with a magnetic amount of charisma, or rizz, as the kids say these days. I was even enamoured by the music. They definitely had Malkovich work on the songs and I have been listening to them so much I won’t be surprised if some of them end up in my Spotify Top 5 this year. I admittedly started listening as part of the bit, amused hearing Malkovich sing these songs, but before I knew it I was just enjoying them for what they are. On the other hand, Ayo Ediberi was just fine for me in this. I usually like her, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was just playing the same character from The Bear. She definitely isn’t bad, it’s just that she didn’t stand out enough for me in this. The supporting cast was also largely forgettable unfortunately, with most of them being largely silent cultists or hollow stereotypes. I also blame this mostly on the script though. In Ayo’s case, we don’t really get to dive into her character in a more meaningful way. There’s a scene right at the beginning where we get some idea of her aspirations, but then it’s mostly just her moving through the different plot beats. The rest of the characters feel more utilitarian than anything, and even the reasons for their existence within the narrative are mentioned in a single line at the end of the movie. This lack of depth also extended to some of the themes in the movie too. I won’t get into spoilers (but listen to our podcast episode about Opus here for our spoiler-filled thoughts), but the whole religion/doctrine of this cult is barely explored and I felt like this really blunted the impact of the ending. This is extra disappointing because I did like the ending enough and the potential to be a bit more impactful was there, they just didn’t reach deep enough to get there. There is some decent visual style to the movie, including this cool thing they do to characters’ eyes when they’re watching Moretti perform. There’s some decent laughs throughout too and I loved all the Better Call Saul/Breaking Bad overlaps. Verdict Maybe it’s just because my expectations were at rock bottom, but after much deliberation, I’m giving this a slightly positive score. The overdone plot and shallow characters hold it back, but I still had a good time, mostly thanks to Malkovich who single-handedly keeps this movie afloat. Without him, it would be a score lower easily. That said, it’s a solid first effort from Mark Anthony Green, and I’m curious to see what he can do with more experience under his belt!

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Babygirl Review — A Horny, High-Stakes Affair That Mostly Delivers

Reviews / Shea Angus

We’re kicking off 2025 with one of the last movies to get released in 2024! Babygirl stars Nicole Kidman as a high-powered CEO who begins an affair with one of her interns. I got to see this one ahead of its release with a pretty big crowd and it was one of the more memorable theatre experiences of the year. Does that mean the movie rocked my world though? Let’s discuss! My Thoughts I only ever watched the first 50 Shades of Grey film (with lots of alcohol), and Babygirl felt like 50 Shades of Grey but good. The first thing to talk about is the lead performance from Nicole Kidman. She’s fantastic here. Her character is complex and she’s completely believable throughout the movie, no matter what she’s doing. Antonio Banderas plays her husband and he’s good in the movie. He doesn’t have a ton to do here, but there’s one moment where he gets to shine and he makes the most of it. The other key role was the intern, played by Harris Dickinson. I’ve seen a lot of mixed feelings on his performance, with opinions ranging from it being an example of perfect casting or a complete miscasting. I actually found myself more in the middle. I thought he was fine, but I don’t feel like he was the only one that could’ve played the role. He definitely had chemistry with Kidman, which is key, and I thought he matched the tone of the movie well. He brought out some chuckles from the audience, but was also deadly serious when he was supposed to be. On that note, this has got to be the horniest theatrical film ever to be released on Christmas. There were definitely some excitable sounds coming from various audience members during our screening which was very amusing for Sergio and me. It was definitely clear that lots of the ladies in the audience were really enjoying themselves with this one! Outside of the performances, I also really liked the soundtrack and the score, but pretty much everything else was just fine. I can’t say that anything stuck out to me as bad, though, either. Halina Reijn is the director, writer, and producer of Babygirl. She also directed Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, a movie that I loved, but the things I like most about these two movies have less to do with the direction. It’s definitely the performances that carry the movie and the dialogue is fun, but the narrative overall doesn’t do much new or all that interesting. I hope as Reijn gets even more experience that she develops a stronger identity as a filmmaker to stand out more, but these are two very solid movies, especially early in her career. Verdict I think the ladies will especially like this movie based on the reactions I heard in the theatres, but this isn’t something only they can enjoy. There’s some solid laughs in this one to be had and I think you can do much worse on a date night. Check out Babygirl in theatres now!

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Spoiler Free Movie Review Roundup: MaXXXine, Hit Man, The Bikeriders, & More

Reviews / Shea Angus

Adriana and I have been watching more movies than we can write full reviews for, so it’s time for our second ever Review Roundup! These will be shorter than our typical reviews, but will still give you enough information to gauge whether these movies are worth checking out or not. Also, stay tuned for individual reviews for I Saw the TV Glow and Furiosa from Adriana and Thelma and Longlegs from me! Anyways, these movies will appear in order from least enjoyable to the most enjoyable for me. Let’s dive in! The Fall Guy So flat out, I really disliked this movie. It had a good cast and a solid budget but I was less than enthusiastic about the rest of the team. Helming this movie was David Leitch. The best thing Leitch has done as a director was when he co-directed the first John Wick movie with Chad Stahelski. Since they parted ways, Stahelski has continued to make John Wick movies that, at least in my opinion, have consistently gotten better with each entry. Leitch on the other hand has made, what I consider, to be perfectly forgettable slop that you may enjoy enough when you watch it, but you’ll never think of again. The writer didn’t do much to excite me either, as his credits include movies like Hobbs & Shaw and Iron Man 3. This is a movie about a stuntman and is supposed to be a love letter to stunt performers. I will take a quick second here to note that the Academy Awards still do not have a category for stunt performers and this is an egregious omission considering the history and importance of stunt work to cinema. However, what Leitch clearly lacks as a director when compared to Stahelski is the ability to really make stunts in his movies shine. I know from clips that there was significant stunt work required for this movie, but they can’t help but make it look and feel as bland and fake as possible. The real tragedy of this movie though for me is the wasted potential. When it comes to top-tier action cinema these days, it’s coming from the team behind the Mission: Impossible and John Wick films like Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Christopher McQuarrie, and Chad Stahelski. I would much rather have seen people like them given this budget and cast to make a movie that’s supposed to be a love letter to stunt performers. At least in their hands it would have been pleasant to look at and fun to watch, none of which this movie was. Verdict I will acknowledge that I might be a bit of a “hater” on this and general audiences that did turn out for this seemed to enjoy it more. I really did want to like this one, but there just was nothing noteworthy or special here for me. When Ryan Gosling isn’t even able to make your movie good, that’s a big problem. You may have more fun with this movie than I did, but you won’t remember it after you watch it and there are plenty of better movies out there if you’re looking to kill a couple hours. Arcadian This was another one Ty and I watched together because it featured one of our all time favourite actors, Nicolas Cage. Unfortunately, this one falls into the more forgettable of the bunch. There really isn’t much here to enjoy beyond the creature designs, which are admittedly pretty cool. The child actors are fine too, but I just never got really invested in anything that was happening. The biggest issue for me though is that typically in movies like this, Cage is able to elevate the experience so you can at least have a fun time. Without spoiling anything, Cage is not given much time throughout the movie to do a whole lot. His role could have been played by anyone and the experience would be the same and that should never be true about a role played by Nicolas Cage. Verdict You can definitely skip this one. The reason it doesn’t get a worse score is because this is a really small movie that has at least some redeeming factors, including the creature designs and the serviceable performances. I wanted to like this one more, there just wasn’t enough of anything there for me to really sink my teeth into. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Have you ever wondered what Inglorious Basterds would be like if it was worse in every conceivable way? Well wonder no more, because this is the movie for you! Does this mean the movie is bad though? Not exactly. Now sure, it’s really unfair to compare this to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, but if you do watch this you will be blown away by just how similar they are narratively. It even has one of the actors from Basterds as the main bad guy in the film! However, if you can let that go, this is a perfectly fine movie. There is a big ensemble cast here including the likes of Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson who were the standouts here for sure. The movie never really aspires to be more than it is and that’s definitely to its benefit. Nothing really stands out as particularly memorable or exceptional, but there are some fun action scenes and good chemistry from the main cast. Verdict It’s definitely not my favourite Guy Ritchie movie, in fact it’s not even close, but if you just need to throw something on that is fun and you don’t mind it being forgettable, you can do a lot worse than watching Cavill and Ritchson slaughtering some Nazis! Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 Oh boy, where do I start with this one? I guess it makes sense to properly set your expectations. This is perhaps the most “part one” movie ever. To provide a score here is difficult because this is not a complete movie in

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Love Lies Bleeding – Movie Review

Reviews / frederic.simard@me.com

If you’re one of the few people, myself included, who watched and loved Rose Glass’s debut, Saint Maud, then you might have some idea of what you’re walking into with her sophomore feature Love Lies Bleeding. But this is also a very different movie. For one, it isn’t a horror movie (or is it?). It’s a love story (or is it?), wrapped in a pulpy propulsive neo-noir crime thriller. The movie dabbles in a range of genres, deploying tropes and archetypes that we’ve all seen before, but it feels like it’s wearing those generic conventions in a way that I’ve personally never seen before, with characters and body types that don’t typically get featured in genres like this. Set in New Mexico in the late 1980s, the movie follows Kristen Stewart’s mullet-clad, chain-smoking gym manager Lou and Katy O’Brian’s Jackie, an aspiring bodybuilder from Oklahoma who’s just passing through. They meet, fall in love, and, well, things go off the rails. If I tell you any more, it’ll ruin a lot of the fun, so I recommend going in with as little prior knowledge as possible. I’ve been a big fan of Kristen Stewart’s for a while now, and she’s at her nervy, chaotic best here, a livewire set off by lust, loneliness, and anger. Some of her lines and line deliveries are so great and off-the-wall, yet she consistently delivers them in a way that’s fully believable. I was also incredibly impressed with Katy O’Brian in what will likely go down as a breakout role for her. As a former bodybuilder herself, she’s the perfect choice to play Jackie, who goes from free spirit with puppy dog energy to roid-rage-fueled desperation, and O’Brian doesn’t miss a beat—it’s a hell of a performance. Both actors imbue their characters with such visceral physicality, in very different ways, that it’s mesmerizing to watch. And speaking of physicality, the movie is, to quote Shea’s Letterboxd review, “very dirty, grimy, and horny.” It’s intensely focused on bodies—how they move and expand and break and change shape, whether out of love or rage or survival instinct. From montages of sweaty bulging muscles set to 80s synths to the open-mouthed desire with which Lou stares at Jackie to moments of explosive action, it’s a very visceral film. At one point, Lou tells Jackie, “I want to stretch you, see how far you can go.” It’s spoken in a sexual context, of course, but I was struck by just how much the line hits at the core of the movie’s thematic concerns. It could almost serve as the movie’s thesis. The movie is very horny, indeed, but it’s also about the extremes to which people will go for love, the way that love and desire can stretch us out into both the best and worst versions of ourselves, and the lengths to which people will go when they’re in the throes of intoxicating, mind-vacuating emotions like lust and rage. It doesn’t surprise me that Glass is so concerned with bodies (bodies that flex, split, stretch, break, bend, ooze), given her previous film is a horror movie. Horror is one of what Linda Williams calls ‘body genres’, along with melodrama and pornography. These are genres that both represent bodily fluids and simultaneously try to elicit some kind of visceral bodily reaction in their viewers, whether it’s jerking tears, jerking off, or just plain ol’ palm-sweating fear. Loves Lies Bleeding is melodramatic, erotic, and horrifying in equal measure. To me, Glass’s movies, and this one especially, feel emblematic of a new kind of body genre, one that encompasses all the fluidity that bodies have to offer. Love Lies Bleeding is grimy, sexy, gross, and violent. It’s also darkly funny and doesn’t pull any punches. It’s both grounded and fantastical, and somehow makes that all work in a cohesive way. The big swings may not work for everyone, but they never feel unearned. And the craft on display here is undeniable. Glass just has a great visual eye and a great instinct for how to use elements of genre. I found it really interesting to read that on both this movie and Saint Maud, she ended up doing reshoots after realizing what was missing when cutting together a first cut of the movie. I think it’s an approach that more filmmakers should be unafraid to take. You often don’t know what’s missing from a thing until you’re in the room putting it together. That kind of flexibility and willingness to go back and re-adjust is clearly working for her, because both of these movies feel very self-assured in a way that not many first- or even second-time filmmakers can claim. Verdict I can safely say that this movie will not be for everyone, but it felt very particularly made for my tastes. It’s bloody and funny and hot; it’s got guns, girls, and gore; there’s tense action and romance that makes you swoon until it turns twisted and toxic. The movie also looks great, with out-of-this-world visual flourishes and a sick soundtrack. There’s beauty and horror in equal measure here, and if that’s not your jam, then stay clear. Thankfully, it very much is my jam, and I was more than happy to go along for the wild ride.

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The Iron Claw – Shea’s Review

Reviews / Shea Angus

I must confess my potential biases at the start and declare that I’m a bit of a wrestling fan. I watched it when I was a kid, but fell out of it for a while. Eventually in around 2018 I started watching Japanese wrestling, including the Wrestle Kingdom pay per view with my brother. It started at about 3:00am local time and ended just in time for me to bid my father a good morning as I crawled into bed at about 9:00am when the show was over. I haven’t looked back since and when I heard about The Iron Claw I was excited to see my passion for movies and wrestling come together on the big screen. Is it worth a watch for wrestling and non-wrestling fans alike? Let’s talk about it! My Thoughts For anyone unfamiliar, this movie chronicles the heartbreaking tale of the Von Erich family. It also has quite the cast, including Holt McCallany as Fritz Von Erich and Maura Tierney as Doris Von Eirch, the patriarch and matriarch of the Von Erich family. Zac Efron plays the eldest living son Kevin Von Erich, while Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, and Stanley Simons play Kerry, David, and Mike Von Erich, Kevin’s brothers. Not featured though is Chris Von Erich who was unfortunately cut from the movie. Chris’ story is no less important though and I do encourage you to look him up after you’ve seen the film. I understand why it had to be cut and frankly including him could make the movie feel more unbelievable than it is but I promise you the full story is somehow even more heartbreaking than what you’ll see here. I have to start this off though by discussing Zac Efron. The term gets thrown around a bit and maybe you’ve seen more of his work than I have, but he was an absolute revelation to me in this movie. I had my perceptions about him knowing very little of his filmography beyond the High School Musical stuff which I never have actually seen, but whatever I thought he was going to do in this movie was way off base. The same goes for Jeremy Allen White, who plays Kerry. I’m most familiar with White as Carmen Berzatto from The Bear (which you can watch on Disney+ right now and I highly recommend that you do) and comparatively Kerry is a bit more reserved as a character but battles some significant inner demons too. Holt McCallany as Fritz was absolutely phenomenal in this too. A different breed from a different generation, Holt is so cold and commanding as Fritz but he also adds something else with his performance that allows you to understand why his sons want to work so hard to make him happy. Maura Tierney as Doris doesn’t get as much to do as the rest of the cast, but she makes the most of the time she’s given and does so much storytelling with just her reactions. As a whole, this movie really works. I was worried going in that my familiarity with the story would perhaps lessen the impact the movie had on me. I think it’s a testament to just how good the movie was that despite knowing all the twists and turns before they happened, I was still captivated by what I was watching. By the end of the movie I was an emotional wreck, thinking about everything I just watched, but about my own family and my own brother too. It’s even harder to comprehend when you learn about other things that the movie left out, including the fate of Chris Von Erich. We often hear about movies that exaggerate the truth, but this movie actually had to hold back some details because if they included them audiences might find the story too unreal to believe. The commitment by the cast and crew is apparent on the screen, from the beautiful shots, to the work the cast (especially Efron) put into the wrestling sequences. Even if you’re not a fan of wrestling, you’ll still find a lot here to enjoy. While this movie is about a family of wrestlers, it’s much more about their personal lives and not just the wrestling. In fact, one thing that could have made this movie a bit better was more wrestling sequences, including one of the more important matches for the Von Erich family that we only get to see glimpses of on TV. I’m a little bummed out by the super late release date for this one because I genuinely think there is greatness in this movie that would be getting more buzz and attention if it came out earlier in the Oscar movie release cycle. Verdict This is an easy and enthusiastic recommendation from me. It has all the things you’d expect from a “prestige picture” with captivating and transformative performances, but it’s a story that I don’t expect most people today to be aware of. The tale of the Von Erich family is one stuffed with heartache but through all of these lows I was left feeling grateful for my family and especially for my brother. At its core, this movie is a reminder to cherish the time you have with the people you love. Whether it’s a text, a call, or a visit, you won’t regret time spent with a loved one. It’s only after they’re gone that you realize just how precious that time is. So hug your people (and go see The Iron Claw)!

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