‘In the Deep’ (or 47 Meters Down)
Another film that doesn’t know what to call itself and yet another shark movie, although this one is much better than last years ‘The Shallows’, which in fairness started off well but descended into nonsense towards the end.
‘In the Deep’ is a simple story, simply told, about a pair of sisters on holiday in Mexico that get stranded…ahem..47 meters down, after the shark cage they’re in detaches itself from the SS Rustbucket, captained by a jobbing actor AKA Mathew Modine.
After a bit of, frankly unnecessary, backstory involving Kate (Mandy Moore), her and Lisa (Claire Holt) head off to their fate and the action starts. This is where the film becomes a reasonable thriller and, in the main, is handled very well. It’s tense, exciting and the CGI Great Whites (what else?) are rendered fairly convincingly in many of the scenes that require them.
It lets itself down a touch near the end, but for most of its 90 minutes, it passes by pleasingly enough and does what it has to do.
7/10
‘Life’
It’s life Jim, but not as we know it.
Actually, it kind of is “as we know it” as there is nothing in ‘Life’ that we haven’t seen before. But, it’s presented here quite well and makes for an entertaining story in its own right.
On the International Space Station, a crew that ticks all the Hollywood diversity boxes, is challenged by a new lifeform that they picked up from an unmanned Mars probe. This new life, named by schoolkids as “Calvin”, grows with incredible speed and proves to be - as Ash from ‘Alien’ said - a tough little son of a bitch as he picks off the ISS crew one by one.
As said, you’ve seen everything in ‘Life’ before, both in the aforementioned ‘Alien’ and all of its subsequent rip offs. But, it passes by well, is acted decently and has a satisfying conclusion.
Among the crew are Ryan Renolds and Jake Gyllenhaal, with support filled out from international non-stars. The effects are well handled and “Calvin” is put to good use and is a believable entity.
8/10
‘Hush’
A deaf mute woman, Maddie Young, is tormented by a crazed assailant in her isolated, rural, home. Her handicap is overcome by her ingenuity as she has to use her wits to battle against her knife and crossbow wielding adversary, who seems more intent on causing her destress than just murdering her.
‘Hush’, is a simple slasher film with an interesting gimmick for the lead actress. But, it’s one of the absolute best examples of the long tired genre, which proves there’s life in the old dog yet. It’s handled smartly, with a heroine that you actually can root for. Made by gifted amateurs, it shows up a lot of genre operatives as lazy hacks. It’s tense throughout, unnerving and delightfully gory when it needs to be.
Highly recommended.
9/10
‘The Autopsy of Jane Doe’
A film that starts off well, but then tumbles along, unsure, to the finish line. “Jane Doe” is a remarkably preserved female body who’s found at the site of an apparent house massacre by a local sheriff (Michael McElhatton). He brings her to the county coroner (Brian Cox) who, with the aid of his son (Emile Hirsch) has to determine the cause of death.
As they proceed with their grislily task, it becomes more and more apparent that “Jane Doe” possesses some terrible secrets, which the two men slowly uncover.
‘The Autopsy of Jane Doe’ is a nice idea and for the bulk of its running time plays out very well indeed. Its final act, though, is a bit of a disappointment and one gets the feeling that the writer just didn’t know where to go. It’s rather like a Lovecraft short, but with a bombastic ending that the great man would have balked at. Unfortunately, for movies, a standard (and logical ) Lovecraft ending probably just wouldn’t cut it with most audiences, so 'The Autopsy of Jane Doe' tries to go out with an ill-conceived bang, rather than the obvious whimper that would have served it better.
Still though, there’s an awful lot here to like. It’s spooky, has a few well done scares and gross in sensible parts. Hirsch and (the always watchable) Cox are fine in their lead roles, with a ballsy (if sedate) performance from Ophelia Lovibond, who spends almost the entire film naked on a metal autopsy table.
6.5/10
‘Lake Mungo’
Zero budget Australian mockumentary about a family dealing with the grief of their dead daughter. The more the film unfolds, the more it reveals its supernatural shenanigans and it’s all carried out in a very subtle way. That’s not a criticism, it’s an appraisal. In the current cinematic world of “quiet, quiet, LOUD” type horror films, it’s a genuine delight to see something that can be delicately unsettling in an understated, but palpable way. There’s no “cattle prod” tactics here.
‘Lake Mungo’ follows the Palmer family as the come to terms with the drowning of the daughter, Alice. They, and other participants, are interviewed in a documentary style by an unnamed filmmaker as he asks them various questions about the event and the subsequent ghostly occurrences that plague them afterwards.
It’s creepy, spooky and leaves the viewer with a tingle down their spine in a way that has been all but forgotten by most contemporary filmmakers. It makes great use of imagery and background audio and it also benefits from the cast of complete unknowns, who all take the script completely serious, thereby influencing the audience to do so as well. One of ‘Lake Mungo’ triumphs is that it genuinely feels real, in a way that something like ‘Paranormal Activity’ doesn’t. You never really forget that you’re watching a film with ‘Paranormal Activity’, but once or twice during ‘Lake Mungo’ I had to remind myself that I wasn’t watching the Discovery Channel. That may put some people off, but while most mockumentaries are comedic affairs and most supernatural documentaries lack any kind of pay off, ‘Lake Mungo’ delivers the package that it sets out to deliver.
9/10
‘The Corpse of Anna Fritz’
Interesting Spanish film with a disturbing (if farfetched) premise. Beautiful actress Anna Fritz has died and is being “held on ice” down the local hospital morgue, awaiting her final journey. Three Castilian neerdowells, one of whom works at the hospital where Anna currently lays, decide to take a look at the corpse, before heading out to a party on a diet of liquor and lines. It doesn’t go at all well for anybody concerned.
‘The Corpse of Anna Fritz’ is a dish best served cold, in that the viewer will get more out of the film with the less they know about it. Some of its elements may be extremely uncomfortable for certain viewers, but nevertheless it’s compelling viewing.
8/10
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Originally Posted by Neil
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