Friday, August 28, 2020

Catch-Up Review: The Wretched (No Spoilers)

The Wretched came out on VOD and in limited theaters back on May 1, and due to the dearth of new theatrical releases at the time, it was actually #1 at the domestic box office for six weeks in a row.  It's about a teenager named Ben who goes to live with his father after his parents split up, and while there, he encounters a dangerous creature that makes families forget their children and then kidnaps and eats them.

On the whole, this is probably my least favorite movie that I've liked all year (of any genre).  It's enjoyable enough, but it has its fair share of problems.  Most glaringly, the majority of the characters simply aren't very likeable.  For example, one night the main character Ben is supposed to have dinner with his father and his father's new girlfriend, but he ditches them at the last minute and goes to a party instead.  Then, about halfway through the party, he ditches the girl he went with and goes swimming with another girl.  This is the guy you're supposed to be rooting for, but he's kind of a jerk, and you almost want the monster to kill him.

Similarly, the plot isn't anything to write home about either.  For the most part, it's a very generic supernatural monster story.  Some weird things start happening, the main character soon begins to notice some of them, then he learns about the creature, and eventually he tries to destroy it.  That's not a bad plot, but it's not anything we haven't seen a million times before.

All that being said, though, I did like this movie, so despite these flaws, the pros still outweigh the cons.  In particular, the horror elements are its saving grace.  For example, the design of the monster is really cool, and whenever it's onscreen, even if it's just standing still without moving a muscle, the creepiness always amps up to some pretty fun levels.  The co-directors find just the right camera angles to make this creature as scary as possible, and even when it's not front and center, they know how long to linger on the suspenseful shots to draw out the maximum amount of creepy anticipation without taking so long that they lose their audience.

Another cool thing about this movie is the way the monster goes about its business.  It doesn't just want to quickly kidnap or kill people and then move on to the next victim.  No, it makes families forget their kids so they have no clue that anything ever happened, and that adds a nice little wrinkle to the movie's rather familiar plot.  Plus, as the creature does this, it possesses people and uses their bodies to get to the other family members, and that allows it to be creepy in an entirely new way.  So even though the plot as a whole isn't super intriguing, the monster is interesting enough that you'll want to stick around to see what it does next.

But the best part of the movie, the part that really shines and tips the scales in its favor, is the third act.  Like most horror films, the first two-thirds of this one are mainly plot-driven with a sprinkling of scares and suspense here and there, but after those first two acts are over, the movie goes all out on the horror.  Just about every shot takes full advantage of the directors' skill with suspense and creepiness, so even if you find the first hour or so of the movie a bit boring, the final 20-30 minutes are well worth the wait.

At the end of the day, The Wretched isn't a must-watch, but it's not a waste of your time either.  Nobody is going to call it a masterpiece or a triumph of horror storytelling  (the way movies like The Invisible Man and Relic are), but it does have enough good genre elements that it's worth checking out.  It gets by pretty much entirely on the strength of its monster and its scares, so if you like monster movies, you should give this one a shot.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Hidden Gem Recommendation: Dog Soldiers

When it comes to werewolf movies, the pickings can be frustratingly slim.  Aside from The Wolf Man (the original, not the 2010 remake), An American Werewolf in London, and maybe The Howling, this subgenre hasn't given us any all-time horror classics that most film fans can recognize.  Instead, good werewolf movies usually fall more on the cult classic level.  They tend to stay off the general public's radar and are known mainly to hardcore horror buffs.

And that's unfortunate because some of them deserve to be way better known than they are.  In particular, I think Dog Soldiers is one of the best horror movies of any subgenre that most people have never heard of.  It's a British film that came out in 2002, and it's basically a mixture of Night of the Living Dead and Aliens but with werewolves instead of zombies or aliens.

It follows a group of soldiers who travel to the woods of Scotland for a training exercise, and soon after they arrive, they're attacked by a pack of werewolves.  They eventually find their way to an empty house and try to survive the night there as the werewolves attempt to break in and kill them.

That's a fairly simple premise that isn't going to blow anybody's mind, but the filmmakers fill it out with three key elements that really make the movie shine.  For one, it has good human characters.  I feel like I say this just about every time I write a recommendation or review, but it's essential if you want to make a good movie in any genre.  These characters aren't just nameless, faceless cannon fodder.  They have real personality traits that make them unique individuals, and the film also humanizes them quite a bit.

For instance, one night before the werewolves attack, the soldiers are sitting around a fire talking about what scares them, and one of them claims that nothing can scare their sergeant.  However, the sergeant admits that's not true.  He says that the thought of never seeing his wife again terrifies him, and then he tells a story about the scariest thing he ever experienced in the line of duty.  These soldiers could've easily been little more than fantasy macho men with no fears or weaknesses, but the filmmakers chose to make them real people instead.  They're human beings just like you and me, so you care what happens to them, and you want them to survive their ordeal in one piece.

Secondly, we have the werewolves.  The creature effects in this movie are great, as these lycanthropes look every bit as terrifying as supernatural man-eaters should.  They're not just human beings who look a little wolfish.  No, these are real monsters.  They're legit wolves that look like they could tear you apart in seconds.

Interestingly, though, you never really get to see them in their human form.  Right from the get-go, they're just terrifying monsters who want to kill the soldiers, and they stay that way for the entire movie.  That's a really risky choice, as the werewolf subgenre is usually at its best when it focuses on the dichotomy between man and wolf, but this film pulls it off.  These werewolves work just fine as bloodthirsty monsters, and you don't need to see them any other way.

But don't get the wrong idea about them.  They're not just mindless savages.  Once the soldiers get to the house, the werewolves display much greater intelligence than you would expect.  They don't just rush their prey and try to overwhelm them with brute force.  No, they plan their attacks just like the soldiers plan their defense, resulting in a cat-and-mouse game that holds your attention much more firmly than a straightforward guns-versus-animals battle ever could.

Finally, we have to talk about the action.  The best thing about it is how much tension the film manages to create in its action scenes.  You learn very quickly that the human characters are no match for the werewolves one-on-one, so every time the monsters appear, you think it could be the end for the soldiers.  Every fight feels like it might be their last, so it really draws you in and makes you feel the urgency of their situation.

Then, when the werewolves make their final attack in the third act, all of that ratchets up to ten.  It's do or die, so you know that one way or another, this will be the soldiers' last fight.  And they really make this last fight a good one.  Because the humans are so outmatched by the monsters, they have to use anything and everything in the house as weapons, resulting in a crazy battle that feels almost like an extended Jackie Chan fight without the pinpoint martial arts expertise.  It's just about the most fun you'll ever have watching humans duke it out with supernatural man-eaters.

So if you're in the mood for a werewolf movie, or if you want a film that satisfies your craving for both action and horror, I would highly recommend Dog Soldiers.  In fact, I would even say that after the all-time classic werewolf movies, this is probably my favorite film in the subgenre.  It's just that good.  It has heart, it has great monsters, and it has great action, so you really can't go wrong with this underseen horror gem.

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Hidden Gem Recommendation: Overlord

Overlord is an action-horror movie that came out in November 2018, and for some reason, it never got the recognition it deserved.  It was almost entirely overlooked by audiences, so even though it's less than two years old, most people don't know about it.  And in my opinion, that's a real shame.  While it's not an all-time classic, it's still a really good movie that combines genuine horror with likeable characters and cool action.

It's set in World War II, and it follows a group of American soldiers who are dropped behind enemy lines to destroy a German radio tower in preparation for the D-Day invasion.  Their plane is shot down, and only a handful of them make it out of the wreck alive.  The few survivors band together to complete their mission, and along the way, they discover that the Germans are conducting terrible, unnatural experiments to create an invincible army that their enemies will be helpless to fight against.

From the very first scene, the movie drops you right in the middle of the action.  It starts out with the soldiers flying to their destination, and after only a few minutes they begin to take heavy fire from German anti-aircraft artillery and are shot down.  After that intense opening, the film slows down a bit and gives you some time to get to know the characters, and that narrative choice really pays off later on.  These filmmakers understand that a good movie requires more than just good scares and good action.  If you don't care what happens to the characters, those other elements will be little more than just visual noise.

And in this movie, you really care about the characters.  While some of them are somewhat stock personalities, like the cold-hearted veteran who's all about the mission and the wide-eyed newbie who wants to help everybody he meets, the actors play their roles well enough that even these overdone tropes feel fresh and enjoyable.  You get to know each of the main soldiers as a unique individual, and you establish an emotional connection with them, which in turn makes you really care about them.  You want them to come out of this horrifying scenario in one piece, so when the action and scares pick up again, you feel the fear and the suspense much more acutely than you would if the characters were just generic cannon fodder.

Even the main bad guy is pretty well-done.  You don't get to know him nearly as well as you come to know the good guys, but the little bit the film does tell you is enough.  He's a pretty despicable human being, and when you get good guys that you really care about facing off with a bad guy that you really despise, it makes for some engaging storytelling.

But Overlord is about more than just good characters.  The pace begins to pick up again when you discover the Nazis' secret laboratory and the nefarious experiments they're conducting, and it's super intriguing.  The movie wisely refrains from answering all your questions right away, choosing instead to build up the suspense and let your curiosity linger for a bit.  You want to know just what these scientists are doing, so your eyes become glued to the screen as you search for answers.

From there, the movie slowly builds up its WTF factor until an awesome third act that makes good on all the promises of the first two thirds of the film.  As the American soldiers fight against a monstrous enemy to complete their mission, the movie pulls the curtain back on the Nazis' secret experiments and shows you the full extent of the horrors they've been working on, and it's great.  It combines some of the best elements of the action and horror genres into a slick, cohesive whole that satisfies your cravings for cool monsters and fun fight scenes.

At the end of the day, Overlord is a relatively simple story that's executed really well.  It isn't going to blow your mind, but the filmmakers squeeze every ounce of potential from it and manage to make the film way better than it has any business being.  In particular, they find a perfect way to balance character development with the faster-paced action and horror scenes.  The movie never slows down so long that you get bored with it, but it also never devolves into mindless action devoid of emotional grounding.

Admittedly, this isn't the kind of film that can transcend its genre and appeal to people who don't normally like action-horror, but if it sounds like something you would enjoy, you should definitely check it out.  With likeable characters, fun action, and really cool horror elements, this tragically underseen gem deserves to reach a much wider audience than it did when it was first released back in 2018.