Prime Time: Totally Killer (2023)

While I completely understand the shorthand that people have used to describe Totally Killer - most people refer to it as Back To The Future crossed with Scream - I have to start this review by saying that it's also being slightly oversold by people who are keen to recommend it to other horror fans. This is a fun film, and should be enjoyed by anyone who enjoyed the likes of Happy Death Day and Freaky, but it's not quite as sharp or clever as it could be.

Kiernan Shipka plays Jamie, a young woman who is fed up of her over-anxious mother (Pam, played by Julie Bowen) and uncool father (Blake, played by Lochlyn Munro). Pam has good reason to be anxious though, especially around Halloween. She is the lone survivor of a killing spree 35 years ago that left her friends dead. And the killer may still be looking to get "the one that got away". One thing leads to another, and Jamie ends up making use of a time machine to head back to 1987, where she hopes to help the teenage version of her mother (Olivia Holt). It turns out that her mother was quite a Mean Girl type in her schooldays, which makes it tougher for Jamie to befriend her and save some lives. She also needs the help of Lauren Creston (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson) to fix what is now a broken time machine. How will Lauren known what to do? The machine was based on her own ideas, made by her future daughter (Amelia, played by Kelcey Mawema).

Directed by Nahnatchka Khan, her second film after the excellent Always Be My Maybe, the emphasis here is on entertainment. Everything is bright and lively, and any excuse to highlight the '80s aesthetics and attitudes is pounced upon. Although the script was written by three people - David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Jen D'Angelo - it feels like everyone worked together well and knew what to do with the tone of the whole thing. It still surprises me, however, that there wasn't a bit more to this, either in terms of the joke count or the potential time-travel repercussions. While perfectly enjoyable in the moment, Totally Killer is almost instantly forgettable. And I am not sure the final scenes actually work, but I would probably need a large whiteboard and a week with Christopher Nolan to try properly piecing it all together.

Shipka is decent enough in the lead role, although she feels quite interchangeable with a number of other potential actresses, and the film spends most of the runtime with her and the excellent Holt. Johnson does well, and should be thankful that she gets to do enough to make an impact, which is more than can be said about so many of the other supporting players. While nobody is bad, it’s hard to always match them up with their apparently predestined role in the unfolding chain of events.

I should say that one of my gripes with the film is somewhat addressed by the script, with the main character able to convince people of her time-travelling mission simply and quickly enough to get back to the slasher plot strand. This is not a complex sci-fi movie. It is a film aiming to make the most of a great concept, and it does a decent job of that.

There could have already been more though. More tunes from the ‘80s, more wonderful fashion choices, more bloodshed and kills, and more jokes layered throughout each scene (few things made me laugh more than our lead’s first encounter with an ‘80s mother, inconsiderately hotboxing her kids with cigarette smoke as she drives around town).

Most people should enjoy this. It’s a good time. It’s just not the total success it could have been.

7/10

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Prime Time: Initiation (2020)

There’s an idea here that could have been developed into a good movie, but let me quickly state that this is not a good movie. Social commentary that falls flat, slasher movie moments that fall equally flat, Initiation is just a huge missed opportunity that seems too focused on depicting social media and shared text messages onscreen.

The ball really starts rolling when a young woman, Kylie (Isabella Gomez), ends up in a room full of young men, including Wes Scott (Froy Gutierrez). Taken home by a friend, Ellery (Lindsay LaVanchy), who also happens to be the sister of Wes, Kylie starts to worry the next day about just what may have happened.  It may be tied to a horrific “game” that the males play once a year, marking their victims out online with an exclamation mark, and Ellery has to accept the fact that her brother is complicit in a sexual assault, unsurprising as he was accused of the same thing just one year before. Then the killing begins.

Directed by John Berardo , who co-wrote the screenplay with Brian Frager and LaVanchy, Initation seems so focused on getting exploring the damage that can be done through social media that it forgets to deliver anything worthwhile, including a proper look at the damage that can be done through social media. It’s as if everyone was so happy to fill the screen with photos and messages characters send/receive on their phones and computers that they forgot all about what they were actually targeting with their material.

Aside from the character played by Gomez, nobody makes a strong impression. Nobody, whether they are supposed to be good or bad. I liked seeing Yancy Butler and Lochlyn Munro, but just because of the recognition factor, nothing to do with the characters they play. One of the other main actors shared a surname with the director, which I suspect explains his inclusion, and I think that sums up the approach to making this. It feels like a group of people who were lucky enough to get a budget allowing them to turn their pet project into a feature.

It may not be entirely bloodless, but Initiation will certainly disappoint anyone seeking it out as a standard slasher. The runtime clocks in at just under 100 minutes, and the first half really drags. Absolutely nothing stands out, except the staggering ability the film has to have nothing standing out.

Lacking any courage, in terms of both the commentary on culture and the “boys will be boys” mantra that has people overlooking so many serious assaults and in terms of standard slasher movie fare, Initiation is so weak that it has me hoping those involved work with much stronger individuals, or people with much clearer vision, on any future projects. This is an initiation to avoid.

3/10

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Shudder Saturday: Spiral (2019)

Okay, let me start this review, as I sometimes do, by informing you that a lot of people love Spiral. And good for them. It certainly has a lot of good qualities, and I am happy to see it getting a lot of praise recently ahead of some blander fare. Although I didn't love it, I did like it. It's just a shame that it felt a bit too familiar and derivative in the third act.

Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) and Aaron (Ari Cohen) are a same-sex couple who move to a small town so they can start the next chapter of their lives together, and raise their teenage daughter (Kayla, played by Jennifer Laporte) in a good environment while they try to instil the best values in her. They have some pleasant neighbours (Tiffany, Marshal, and their son, Tyler), but it's not long until unpleasantness appears, in the form of some homophobic graffiti that seems to make it clear that the couple are not welcome. This seems at odds with the attitudes of the people around them, but Malik becomes more and more anxious about the potential for things to get dangerous.

Written by Colin Minihan and John Poliquin, Spiral is strongest when it starts to build an atmosphere of threat and suspicion. Despite us seeing that Malik has good reason to be worried, most people (including his partner) try to dismiss his concerns. Which I can only imagine is akin to the experience many people in the gay community find when they sense intolerance but struggle to find empathy in those who don't notice it, either deliberately or simply because their life experiences have allowed them to remain blissfully ignorant of that kind of attitude. Often, and it is something we have seen become more prevalent as a lesson to be learned in the past few years, it's easier to accept the hateful morons who are loud and proud with their prehistoric attitudes than it is to deal with people who wrap their hatred and intolerance up in small gestures, "innocent" faux pas, and a rigid adherence to rules, regulations, and formats all created before society was more progressive than it is today.*

Spiral starts to stumble when it puts things in place to become a more standard horror movie, and that's a shame. It's not as if the script takes a dive, or director Kurtis David Harder does anything majorly wrong. There are horror elements in the first half that impress, even while they feel incongruous alongside the more grounded atmosphere of fear being created. There are also some great moments involving Lochlyn Munro and Chandra West (who play their characters, Marshal and Tiffany, with a great blend of charm and something just being a bit off, but it all becomes weaker as you realise it's wading further and further into proper horror territory.

Bowyer-Chapman carries a lot of the movie on his shoulders, and he does a great job. Cohen works well alongside him, while Laporte and Ty Wood impress as the younger characters who try to connect with one another while some strange events are unfolding around them. There aren't too many other main characters, but everyone does good work.

Other plus points include the overall look and feel of the movie, considering the lower budget that I imagine was available, the plotting of the film, and the way things build to a bittersweet final sequence. 

Spiral is very much worth your time. I'm just surprised by how much it started to lose my interest whenever it took a turn from the drama to the outright horror. Give it a watch though, and let me know what you thought of it, and whether or not you agree with me.

*No, not everyone, and not everywhere, is as progressive as we would like. Like an IKEA display room, everything is there but there's still a lot more work to build a comfortable house for all.

7/10

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Christmas Mail (2010)

Ashley Scott plays Kristi North, a young woman who has the job of replying to children who have written a letter to Santa. Kristi takes her job very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that she could end up causing a potential backlog at the mail office, something that the manager (Lochlyn Munro) doesn't want to happen. So he asks Matt (A. J. Buckley) to find out a bit more about her, and just what exactly she might be up to. It turns out that she just genuinely loves Christmas, and wants to make as many children happy as possible. But does that include Emily (Piper Mackenzie Harris), the young niece who has been staying with her Uncle Matt ever since her parents died? All she wants is for her uncle to meet someone special.

As ridiculous as it is predictable, Christmas Mail manages to be a fairly painless experience thanks to the main cast members. Buckley is easy to believe as a sweet and earnest guy, North is as cheery and cocoa-obsessed as required, and even Harris isn't too annoying as the girl trying to plan some way for her uncle to meet a good woman. Munro is pretty funny, playing the nominal villain of the piece, and Rolonda Watts is another bit of good cheer. Vanessa Evigan also gets some screentime, for no other discernible reasons than to provide the standard confusion/complication required in this sort of fare, but she's given very little to do.

The script, by Lorene Lacey and Steven Palmer Peterson, feels quite slapdash. It's almost as if they had the germ of an idea and then decided to flesh it out with minor touches they'd seen in other Christmas movies. Someone taking a great interest in the letters to Santa isn't a new idea, of course, but that doesn't mean that it has to be executed as lackadaisically as it is here. I mean . . . . . . it's SO lackadaisical that I had to check the spelling of the word "lackadaisical" to put here, as it was the most appropriate choice.

Director John Murlowski does nothing to pep things up. The only other plus point, aside from the cast, is the fact that is somehow still moves along nicely enough. Okay, there are one or two mildly amusing moments too (mainly involving Munro and/or Watts, but a dinner arranged for Matt and an elderly neighbour also made me smile), but not enough to make this one of the better choices you could make while organising a potentially crammed viewing schedule. Yet, like so many other films just like this one, it would probably work as background noise while you're battling with wrapping paper and sticky tape. Is that the real reason behind so many of these filmic baubles being made? Or do I just keep reverting back to the same scenario because I'm a poor writer with little imagination? Maybe both. Either way, you've been suitably advised about this one.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Mail-Ashley-Scott/dp/B005GUVGKM/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1417608746&sr=1-1&keywords=christmas+mail+dvd

Hansel & Gretel Get Baked (2013)

A fun, modern take on the classic fairytale, with more than a dabble of weed sprinkled through it, Hansel & Gretel Get Baked isn't a movie that I could ever call a great movie, but it's certainly much better than I expected it to be.

Molly Quinn is Gretel, a bit of a pothead who starts down a path towards trouble when she goes looking for her pothead boyfriend, Ashton (played by Andrew James Allen). Ashton had been going to pick up some great new weed, something being grown by a little old lady from Pasadena (yes, the song is mentioned). Unfortunately, that little old lady is a witch (Lara Flynn Boyle) who lures in her victims and uses them to help her turn back the clock. Gretel knows that something is up but doesn't realise the full situation. And neither does her brother, the non-potsmoker Hansel (Michael Welch).

Director Duane Journey uses a decent cast, a fun script (by David Tillman), and occasional decent gore effects to put together a fun movie that should please horror fans who don't need every movie to be chock full of tension and/or bloodshed. The way in which the main elements of the classic tale are adapted for the modern setting are fun, though nothing here can be described as subtle or sophisticate. What the hell, people could say the same about me. This is a film to be watched with snacks and the beverage of your choice, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Quinn is a perfectly decent Gretel, Welch does okay even though he's not onscreen that much, and Bianca Saad heats things up a bit as a girl named, well, Bianca who ends up helping Gretel after her own boyfriend also goes AWOL. Everyone else does well enough, including Lochlyn Munro and Yancy Butler as a pair of police officers reluctant to waste any time trying to find someone they simply assume is not where he should be because he's stoned. And then there is Lara Flynn Boyle. She's good, but that's mainly thanks to the script giving her most of the best lines. Other aspects of her performance show that, sadly, her best performances may be far behind her.

It's not going to win over any fans who like their horror dark and smart, but if you're an easygoing, unfussy viewer then you may just find this to be an amusing enough way to kill 90 minutes.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Hansel-Gretel-Get-Baked-Blu-Ray/dp/B00BPGLNXQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1398997221&sr=1-2&keywords=hansel+and+gretel+get+baked

Alligator X AKA Xtinction: Predator X (2010)

Alligator X is a creature feature that suffers from an uninteresting cast, an unexciting plot and, worst of all, a poor central creature. It's yet another in a long line of inferior SyFy Channel (note: I'm not sure if they commissioned it or just distributed it in some territories), which should tell you all you need to know right there.

Mark Sheppard plays Dr. Charles LeBlanc, a man who may very well be meddling with mother nature, and we all know how badly that tends to end. He arrives back in town, or the swampland that has some houses in the immediate vicinity, to upset his ex, Laura Le Crois (played by Elena Lyons), and be firmly in the frame when a large predator starts munching on some locals. The latter is just an unfortunate coincidence. Or is it?

The flat direction by Amir Valinia isn't all that surprising. This is, after all, standard, low-budget, creature feature stuff and does the bare minimum required for such a film. What is surprising is that the script by Cameron Larson was the result of a story that four people collaborated on. Four people? To come up with this nonsense?

The special effects are poor, although I've seen a LOT worse in this kind of movie (faint praise though that may be), and the main story strand is a weak excuse to avoid more actual time with the creature onscreen, but that doesn't make it  less deserving of your time than the 1001 other z-grade creature features vying for your time.

As for the cast, Sheppard is good fun as the cocky doctor, Lyons is spirited and enjoyable enough as the woman who has fought hard to keep her life together, Lochlyn Munro is a familiar face I never mind seeing and does fine with his role as a local Sheriff, Ricky Wayne and Scott L. Schwartz liven things up whenever their incompetence is onscreen, and everyone else does what's required.

This isn't rocket science. It's a film about a giant predator in a swamp. If you like that sort of thing then check out the surprisingly good Frankenfish. If you've nothing else to hand then check out this one. If you feel that you must.

3/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Predator-X-DVD-Mark-Sheppard/dp/B0085MXP7K/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1379533454&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=xtinction%3A+predator+x

Trancers 4: Jack Of Swords (1994)

I am as surprised as anyone else would be by what I'm about to say. I almost gave this movie, the fourth in a b-movie franchise, a 7/10. Almost. I came so close and argued with the little voices inside my head for quite some time before accepting the fact that there were just too many flaws here to allow me to rate the movie as very good. The logic is even flimsier than it was in the preceding three movies (and it was already very flimsy indeed) and the plot is almost wafer-thin this time around.

Here is the plot, in one simple sentence - Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson again, he's like a cross between Tom Atkins and Clint Eastwood) is again due to head into the past for a mission but he ends up going too far and finds himself in ye olde worlde setting just in the right time and place to fight some trancers that keep local commoners living in fear.

That's really all there is to it and that's all it needs. The Trancers series has never quite reached greatness but it's also never been less than enjoyable. That's due, in no small part, to the witty writing, the central character of Jack Deth and the way he is portrayed by Thomerson.

Clabe Hartley plays the main villain this time around and he's at least a lot of fun but, sadly, the rest of the cast just lack a certain something. They're not bad, exactly, but they just don't seem to have the spark inside that would make them fun to watch onscreen. Lochlyn Munro is probably the most recognisable face onscreen but Alan Oppenheimer, Mark Arnold, Stacie Randall, Terri Ivens and Ty Miller all join in with the fun.

Peter David is responsible for the thin, but fun, screenplay while David Nutter (more well-known for his work on some great TV shows than his few features) does a fine job as director. Transalation = the camera is pointing the right way most of the time and nobody walks into any of the walls (at least, not as far as I could see).

It's a slight step down from the preceding three movies but Trancers 4: Jack Of Swords is still tremendous fun, which is all the more surprising considering that it IS a fourth instalment of a movie series that should have given up and expired under the sheer weight of its own paradoxes well before now. It just goes to show how important a sense of humour and a fun approach to the material is, qualities that this series gets right every time and that makes everything a lot more enjoyable for the viewer.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trancers-Definitive-Collection-II-III/dp/B000K6L9CM/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1343852448&sr=1-1