EvilPhoEniX

Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington, and a great conclusion to a successful trilogy. The third part is not better than the first, but it surpasses the sequel and for me it is another great job on my favorite theme. Fuqua is right at home in this revenge mode, and while it's not a frantic action ride in the vein of John Wick and Extraction, it doesn't matter as The Equalizer benefits from a great main character, an attractive setting and compelling dialogue, making the film stand out above other revenge action genre flicks. Washington has charisma to spare, and the way he can play a likeable guy one moment and a cold and uncompromising assassin with a stare that gives you chills the next is amazing. This time we look at a quaint Italian town where Denzel is injured and getting used to the quiet idyllic life of the friendly locals, but the town is terrorized by the local Mafia and Denzel will have to take the law into his own hands. The film keeps a leisurely pace, but thanks to a great setting, likeable characters and engaging dialogue, it never gets boring and when it comes to the action, it's pleasantly brutal with effective kills. The best part is quite possibly the opening itself, which is very nicely brutal. I also enjoyed the two Italian brothers-villains, who got what they deserved. However, I was a bit disappointed with the finale itself, which felt rather rushed and the showdown with the bad guy wasn't as satisfying as the finale from the first film, but I can get over that. It's still quality entertainment that I enjoyed for 2 hours. PS: that jump-scare in the explosion with the cars was lethal!

Valak is back together with Michael Chaves, who again confirms he is a mediocre director (it's the Conjuring Universe was put in charge of Chaves, who, after La Llorona should have been a red flag, but for unknown reasons he is back in the director's chair). The most interesting thing about The Nun 2 is once again the setting (the twons, the streets, the period setting), which is atypical and unorthodox. Unfortunately, the plot is not very interesting and it's quite boring. Valak is less on the scene than I would have liked and instead of scares and horror fun, we get rather uninteresting dialogues with uninteresting characters. Occasionally Chaves comes up with an interesting atmospheric scene (the magazines – the only functional jump scare), but the rest of the scares don't have the necessary gusto (ironically, The Equalizer 3 had a betterone!). It bothered me a bit that instead of Valak, the possessed had to be a guy who is simply not scary, he was unnecessary and if I have Valak in the film, why bring in someone else? (though the goat was surprisingly fine). The only thing that saves it from being mediocre is the finale, which is surprisingly action packed and long, and I thought if the whole movie was carried at that pace of horror wilderness it would be one hell of a ride, only that the ending rather wakes the viewer up from boredom or slumber. So, for me, another mediocre mainstream ghost movie that is decent in craftsmanship, has nice locations, but doesn't use the full potential of the scary Valak and only runs at half throttle most of the time. However, for those who haven't seen much horror, Nun 2 won't offend. 55%

Likeable and cool animation, nice characters and pretty decent action, but I was expecting to be more amazed by it, especially the humour seemed pretty bland (too bad Rogen couldn't do his thing here), and ironically I was more entertained by the mutants than the turtles, which probably wasn't the intention. A cool fairy tale for a boring evening. 6/10.

A modern Frankenstein Daughter! Laura Moss delivers a solid psychological thriller driven drama that draws inspiration from classic horror literature and Cronenberg. And although we don't get any horror savagery, to my surprise I was pleasantly hooked for the entire runtime thanks to the actors, dialogue and premise. The film won me over right from the opening. A mother leaves her 6 year old child to be babysat by a neighbor, only she doesn't make it to morning. (The idea of this happening to a parent is really crazy). The kid ends up on the table of pathologist Marin Ireland, who gives a really cool and strong performance (she's interestingly twisted in her own way- masturbating a random dude on the toilet whose sperm she uses to impregnate herself, and has had a strong interest in biology, death, etc from the age of 6). She takes girl home and decides to turn her into a medical experiment – a cure for DEATH! A confrontation between two women, coincidentally both working in the medical field with the same intention – to save a child. I enjoyed the two leads, the dialogue is well written, the disturbing atmosphere works, the craftsmanship is good, the medical experiments are intriguing, it's definitely presented more realistically and believably than Frankenstein, and the final birth is pretty intense too. Too bad it didn't escalate more in the finale, but I'm still satisfied. Those expecting horror, however, will be extremely disappointed. 7/10.

I did not enjoy it at all. It was sold as Steampunk, stop-motion, surreal horror fantasy, all of which sounded attractive, but the final product is uninteresting to the point of woe. Mostly I felt that it was perhaps not even a horror film (the gore is only in the imagination of the viewer). The film is about a young girl who falls down the stairs and we watch what goes on in her head before she comes to consciousness. The concept is fine, some of the visual ideas were interesting too, even the bad guy had something going for him, but it couldn't hold my attention. Also, it felt a bit like a horror movie for kids. It might find its fans though. 4/10.

A bit weaker than the first part, but still pretty good. Vacation Friends is exactly the kind of cheeky, vulgar and crude comedy that's sadly missing from the scene, so a plus for that. The biggest draw is again the duo of John Cena and Meredith Hagner – those two are really great here, they give good performances, they're funny, they create cool situations whenever they're on set, they are brilliant. Unfortunately that's also a stumbling block because when they're not on set it doesn't click as much. There are some new characters that aren't that funny (you just want more Cena and Hagner and to skip this one), so there was a dumber passage every now and then, but it didn't hurt the whole thing too much because there is still plenty of room for laughs – though I'd rather watch the first one again. 65%

Judging by the reviews, I was expecting something weaker, but in the end it's a pleasant family comedy that, by American standards, stays away from vulgarity, foul language and craziness. It's pleasant, smiley but entertaining enough. The protagonist is invited to stay with his fiancée's rich parents for the weekend, and they bring along his father, who is kind of a regular guy and doesn't quite belong in a rich family, and that makes it pretty funny. The funniest character is the brother, who is kind of the quintessential scumbag and has the best lines and that peacock dinner had a little something to it too. I laughed a few times, it's a feel good comedy for the unpretentious, but also for everyone. 6/10.

André Øvredal and his gothic boat vampire horror based on Stoker's novel. I have to say that I like Øvredal, he is an active horror filmmaker and chooses interesting and unconventional horror genre films, though not always as good as The Autopsy of Jane Doe (he probably won't top that one), but he never outright pisses me off and doesn't try for any arthouse or ambitious works. In short, rewarding horror entertainment, of which there is never enough. A lot was expected from The Last Voyage of the Demeter, and early overseas reviews suggested it probably wouldn't be the horror film of the year, which I can confirm, but it's still very attractive and likeable, and as a true horror fan, I feel the need to express my gratitude that we didn't get another bland ghost movie, another bland slasher or another family friendly twillight vampire flick, but a shipboard vampire gothic horror, I welcome that. I’m pleased with the above-par craftsmanship, the likeable characters, the good music, the decent looking Dracula (again it could have been some ugly CGI shit, but there's a Javier Botet creature feature again!). The atmosphere works: the ship, fog, storm, sailors and a dangerous Cargo is simply rewarding. It's nice to that it’s not PG-13, and it's pretty gritty in places, I found it relatively satisfying. I appreciated that the film isn't afraid to break down conventional horror boundaries, like the breaking the rule that women and children are safe, which I applaud. Sure, the scares don't work, but who cares. It's a fun clash between Dracula and the sailors on a ship. Take it or leave it. 7/10.

Meg 2 is for me a weaker sequel to the more entertaining first film. Ben Wheatley wasn't the best choice to direct. This controversial director of slowburns and weird indies couldn't bring any spark to an entertaining shark blockbuster. Jason Statham is still likeable and Wu Jing is always a pleasure to see (too bad he didn't get a fight), the rest of the characters don't impress at all. Visually it's ok (the CGI was occasionally jarring, but in a digestible form), but the atmosphere is completely missing, I felt it's not even as suspenseful as the first one (which had countless cool jump-scares too). The humour is not good (in the first one the black guy talking was hilarious), it was a bit drier. It's nice that there are new monsters (the octopus could have been given more space and they definitely could have added more animals from the underwater world), the Megs are fine but I felt like they weren't on the scene as often as I would have liked. The film unnecessarily dwells on the human villains, which no one is curious about. The first half in the trench is fine, but once it moves into the second half the fun drops off, you could definitely feel that Wheatley is not able to make an entertaining film off rails. It's watchable, but a tad weaker than the more entertaining first film. 55%

Netflix's Spanish variation on Scream is unfortunately a weak take on slashers. The basic proprerties are admittedly there. We have eight friends who are into horror movies (too bad they didn't at least make a play on a familiar cliché with references to older horror films), but they are interchangeable with other students who want to scare a teacher for harassing a student, only for the stupid prank to turn into a tragedy for which they will subsequently be punished. I liked the fairly original clown mask and the interesting murder weapon, the killer game works relatively well, and thankfully this is not PG-13, but even so we don't get any gore (there is some blood and the murders are at least OK, but they are not playful, inventive or brutal enough to make the film stand out from the long line of similar films). Of course, no one shows boobs (the 80s were golden in this respect), the humour is absent, the characters are unlikable and the whole thing is so unfunny. The craftsmanship is OK, so those who like these simple slashers can survive, but otherwise it’s a redundant film that brings nothing new, and does not excel on any level. 4/10.