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Jigsaw

Jigsaw is the latest entry in the Saw series. A movie series that practically defines torture porn. The first Saw is still my favorite in the series. But Jigsaw was a fun romp in October.

We all know the plot. A group of people who are guilty of something are gathered and forced to play a game. Death, maiming and cussing follow. We have the authorities working to identify the killer as this is set after Jon Cramer’s “death”

You’ll get you 3rd act twists and turns. And an open end that will easily allow the series to continue.

And as much as I was not a fan of the latter sequels in the series, I want there to be a Saw movie every October (or every other). We need a horror franchise out there hitting theaters regularly. We had that with Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and more recently the Paranormal Activity series.

Starring: Matt Passmore, Tobin Bell, Callum Keith Rennie, Hannah Emily Anderson, Clé Bennett, Laura Vandervoort, Paul Braunstein, Mandela Van Peebles, Brittany Allen, Josiah Black

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

The Babysitter

I was not sure what to expect from the Babysitter. It popped up on Netfix and some podcasts I listen to were reviewing it in upcoming episodes.

It has a slow open, but then it hits the fan.

Cole is a 12-year old with a babysitter. He is also picked on. a lot. He has 2 bright sides, he is friends with the cute girl across the street, Melanie, and his babysitter, Bee, treats him like a person.

Melanie goads Cole into staying up and seeing if Bee sneaks her boyfriend over after he goes to bed. According to her, that’s what all babysitters do.

Not Bee.

At first, Cole is looking at the beginnings of a promising game of spin-the-bottle. Right up until one of the participants is killed and has his blood collected.

The rest of the movie is a horror version of Home Alone as Cole is hunted by the party-goers.

The Babysitter is a Netflix original.

Starring: Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Emily Alyn Lind, Andrew Bachelor, Doug Haley, Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

Cult of Chucky

I’m not sure how I feel about Cult of Chucky. Series took a turn. This is a direct sequel to Curse of Chucky (a favorite of mine).

Nica is in a high-security asylum. Getting shock treatment. Thanks to this, hypnosis, and a persuasive psychiatrist, Nica denounces the existence of Chucky and wants to atone for “her” murders. She gets transferred to a medium security asylum and chucky-ness ensues.

Just as Curse of Chucky expanded on the mythos of the series, so does Cult. In an odd direction. Admittedly, one that we should have seen coming. We have some returning characters, some blood and gore. Not as much wide-cracking Chucky as I would have liked.

Cult of Chucky is available on Netflix at the time of this review.

Starring: Brad Dourif, Fiona Dourif, Alex Vincent, Michael Therriault, Zak Santiago, Ali Tataryn, Marina Stephenson Kerr, Adam Hurtig, Grace Lynn Kung, Elisabeth Rosen, Jennifer Tilly

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

The Foreigner

The Foreigner is portrayed as a Death Wish style movie in its trailer. And there are many similar plot points, but it has more than that.

The emotions Jackie Chan brings to this movie are intense. There is political chicanery spread throughout as well.

Does he get his revenge? yes. Is it hollow? unfortunately. Nothing is going to bring back his family.

The choice for using the IRA versus religious terrorist organizations is fitting for this movie. As Jackie Chan’s journey of revenge for his daughter’s death, mirrors some of the facets of the IRA struggle.

You kill one of mine, I kill 2 of yours. You retaliate to that with 4, I retaliate with 8. So on and so forth. The cycle of revenge and retribution never truly ends.

It is nice to see that Jackie Chan still handles action scenes well. He may not be performing stunts as extreme as he used to, but everything fit well here.

Starring: Katie Leung, Jackie Chan, Rufus Jones, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, Tao Liu

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day can be summed up with Groundhog Day with a slasher. This is not a bad thing.

Just like Groundhog Day, the protagonist, Tree – yes that is her name, is not sympathetic at first. But his changes as she goes through the day over and over.

The most annoying thing in the movie – her ringtone. And since the day is repeating, we hear the damn thing over and over.

The movie opens with Tree waking up hungover in some guy’s dorm room. She quickly leaves and returns to her sorority house. She interacts with her roommate and other members and goes to class. She is of course having an affair with a professor. All of this is basically setup to introduce us to the key characters in her life, the events we will be seeing variations of, and her crappy demeanor.

Then she gets killed. By someone in a Baby mask. Apparently, her college’s mascot is a baby. So there are a lot of people out and about in similar masks.

She wakes up and repeats the day. And she dies.

At this point, she begins working to figure out who is after her.

There is no real gore. It is a PG-13 rated movie, after all. But it was a nice fun movie. Not a sequel. Not a remake.

Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Charles Aitken, Rachel Matthews

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman