Film Review: January 2022

Hello dear reader, I hope your new year has been an extravaganza of brilliance so far? I’ve felt a lot more positive about this year and my new year’s resolution is to just say fuck it in general, but also to write my reviews in a more timely, consistent manner and, hell, just write more! I’ve had a few analysis pieces brewing in my mind for some time, so hopefully I can extract them in a coherent fashion in the next couple of months. But without further ado, here’s what I’ve been watching this month…

My reviews are spoiler free.

Scream (5cream?) (2022) 7.5/10

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s slasher is an enjoyable and satisfying slice of meta nostalgia and a decent addition to the Scream franchise. 25 years after the original Scream killing spree, we’re back in the town of Woodsboro where a high school student is suddenly attacked by Ghostface. This sets off a new wave of killings which pulls Sidney, Gale and Dewey back into its murderous orbit one more time. This movie feels like such a massive millennial nostalgia trip (we saw this a week after the new Matrix movie came out where they were also showing a trailer for the new Jackass movie – is it 1999 again?), so I enjoyed it a lot although (similar to The Matrix Resurrections (2021)) I did genuinely wonder if a younger audience would get the same joy out of it? Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett take a decent stab at holding the Scream franchise reins, delivering a competent movie and some quite grisly kill scenes one of which was actually quite emotional. Obviously it’s lovely to see the old band back together again with Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette thankfully not phoning in their performances and actually adding to their beloved characters’ emotional arches. Also Heather Matarazzo is given some screen time which I can only but stan. The story is also updated with a group of Gen Z high schoolers which mostly doesn’t veer into the annoying ‘finger-wagging at youth’ territory of Scream 4 given they’ve been written by white dudes in their forties. There is some genuinely funny dialogue and thoughtful, clever callbacks to the original movie. Jenny Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding’s performances particularly stick out for their gravitas and/or comic-timing. I think my main criticism would be that the writing and some performances veer into soap territory which means the nastier edge of the previous movies is missing and, thus for me, it becomes less memorable. I also have thoughts about the killer and motive reveal, but of course I will keep them to myself for now. Overall, it is a hugely fun ghost train ride of a movie fit for a Friday or Saturday night watch.      

Titane (2021) 8/10

Julie Ducournau’s Palm D’Or-winning body horror is an audacious, gory and hilarious movie about childhood trauma, the importance of familial connection, grief and gender fluidity. Alexia, a woman who has a titanium plate attached to the side of her head after being seriously injured in a car accident as a child, works as a showgirl at hyper masculine motor shows and hides more than one strange secret in her life. Titane is a visually stunning and confident sophomore film which further demonstrates Ducournau’s glowingly stylish directorial flair and inventively surreal writing talent. Building on the scenes of sweaty musical frenzy in her debut Raw (2016), she’s also easily one of the best ‘party dancing’ film-makers currently out there. Agathe Rouselle and Vincent ‘Betty Blue (1986)’ Lindon deliver really stunning and convincing performances, including pulling off some extremely wince-inducing moments of gore and vulnerable physicality. It’s difficult to extensively review the movie without getting into spoiler territory (and you know how militant I feel about that, haha), so I definitely recommend going into it without reading much about it in order to get the full impact. If I’m being completely honest Raw ultimately felt more successful in its character arch than Titane, but the movie still packs an almost operatic emotional punch that will have you gasping and laughing aloud with its cinematic brass balls. Also, the fact that a body horror won the Palm D’Or – sublime.

V/H/S 94 (2021) 6.5

V/H/S 94 is a pleasingly gory, unnerving and darkly humourous found footage anthology horror which sees it return to form after the wildly underwhelming V/H/S/ Viral (2014). This movie is the fourth installment of the V/H/S franchise, originally conceived by David ‘The Night House (2021)’ Bruckner and Brad Miska of The Bloody Disgusting website, with each segment covering different horror subgenres including body horror and the occult. The individual segments are revealed through video cassettes found in Jennifer Reader’s framing narrative which features an over-zealous SWAT team investigating a possible drug den in an abandoned, but creepily decorated warehouse. A decent framing device is arguably the toughest job and sadly this one is probably the weakest part of the film. There are some really memorable images and a couple of middling scares, but it feels more style over substance and I found its denouement quite cringey. However, given the strict cinematic parameters of the franchise, some of the segments have really fun, inventive ideas and there are some surprisingly respectable special effects and a few good scares. It also looks great – as a 90s kid the scuzzy video aesthetic was extremely pleasing to me. My favourites were Chloe Akuno’s ‘Storm Drain’ and Ryan Prows’ ‘Terror,’ both darkly humourous, gross and satirical. One segment is definitely too long and disrupts the flow of the whole film which is unfortunate given the director Timo Tjahjanto is a returnee. There’s also some pretty ropey acting in one of the segments. But I appreciated their attempt to include more female and/or non-white directors which paid off in terms of offering a fresher perspective. It’s always a pleasure to see Indonesian horror cinema (i-horror?) on the scene again, especially given Tjahjanto’s previous V/H/S short ‘Safe Haven’ is arguably the best segment in the series. However, all of this did make me wonder – where’s the sequel to the excellent female-directed anthology XX (2017)?

Excision (2017) 7.5/10

Richard Bates Jnr. teen extreme body horror is a hilarious, gory and camp movie about gender, conformity and the neglect of mental health issues. Pauline is a disturbed and frustrated teenager living in hypocritical, white American suburbia with her stuffy parents and cystic fibrosis-suffering younger sister. Pauline tries to navigate her mental health issues and social ostracisation along with her burgeoning, transgressive sexuality, which leads her towards a troubling conclusion. The film hilariously and effortlessly skewers white American middle-class sensibilities and the hypocrisies placed upon female adolescent sexuality. There are also some stunning and creative visuals in the dream/phantasy sequences. An almost unrecognisable AnnaLynne McCord as Pauline is a revelation, her performance is funny, heart-breaking and entirely believable. The movie certainly revels in its own bad taste and John Waters aptly gives his blessing with a hilarious cameo. Excision could be accused of being style over substance, but the sense of artifice and the camp performances are clearly a deliberate choice to highlight the constructed nature of societal behaviour. I think my main criticism of the film is that the ending didn’t hit me quite as hard as I was expecting it to, it’s almost as if the detachment of the camp makes it harder to become fully emotionally engaged. But given this was Bates’ first film and it clearly had a very small budget, it’s a pretty impressive debut full of stylistic flair and provocation.        

NB – I actually watched this movie months ago, but completely forgot to write a review for it until now!

Nightmare Alley (2021) 8.5/10

Guillermo del Toro’s neo-noir psychological horror is a fantastically sumptuous and beguiling movie about masculinity, misogyny and white capitalistic greed. After burying a body and burning down a house, Stan, a mysterious drifter inadvertently arrives at a carnival and joins the troupe. There he meets a host of fascinating and troubling characters, becomes a gifted mentalist and falls in love with Molly, a fellow carnival performer. However, Stan ambitiously craves to move on from the carnival and soon finds himself utilising his craft dangerously. Firstly, the cast in this movie is completely insane – Willem Dafoe is rocking some older Bobby Peru vibes, Richard Jenkins playing brilliantly and disturbingly against type, Toni Collette is always amazing with her legendary frowns, and, of course, Cate Blanchett is incredible and appears to be having a lot of fun campily striking some statuesque femme fatale poses. I even enjoyed Bradley Cooper’s performance as the ambiguous Stan, although I do wonder if a younger actor should have played the role? The set and costume design is fantastic, simultaneously beautiful with its Art Deco flourishes and dismally grim in its 30/40s period detail. It’s always a pleasure to see psychoanalysts on film and this film hilariously continues the ‘psychoanalyst who would get struck off the register in an instant’ trope that we all know and love. There are also the characteristic moments of visceral GDT violence which really smack you over the head when they finally come. It’s a relatively long movie which thoughtfully takes its time to build the characters and atmosphere, although there’s a couple of scenes in the beginning that probably could’ve been trimmed slightly. Rooney Mara as Molly is also good, but I feel like she does get a bit short-changed and could’ve been give more to do. Also, if you’re looking for a more straight-up GDT horror film, this is not it and you may be disappointed, however I’m a big fan of the daftness and style of film noir so this wasn’t an issue for me. My advice is to just luxuriate in its lavish ostentation and enjoy the slow-burning sense of dread and menace from an undisputed master of horror.  

So what did you think of these movies? Did I hit the nail on the head or do you think I am talking out of my arse? Let me know in the comments below or send me a cheeky email!