Play Dead (2022)

While director Patrick Lussier may not be a make many people pick when asked about their all-time favourites, he generally makes films that keep me entertained (especially with the extra fun of 3D formatting). So when I started hearing good things about Play Dead, I knew that Patrick Lussier directing it meant that I would most likely agree with those who had already enjoyed it.

Bailee Madison plays Chloe, a medical student currently going through a very tough time. She and her brother have recently lost their father, the insurance company is reluctant to pay out, and they could end up losing their home. Her brother, T. J. (Anthony Turpel), ends up attempting a robbery with a friend, which leads to his friend being shot and ending up in the morgue. Unfortunately, his friend being in the morgue means that there’s also a vital piece of evidence there, the only thing tying T. J. to the crime. Making use of her medical knowledge, Chloe fakes her own death to end up in the morgue. Once she comes to, she starts to figure out how to retrieve and remove the evidence, but it doesn’t take her long to realise that she is now stuck in a building with a coroner (Jerry O’Connell) who is up to no good  

Written by Simon Boyes and Adam Mason, who have been working together now for a number of years (on films I have somehow completely overlooked), this is a slice of ridiculousness that focuses on contrived tension and thrills ahead of plausibility and logic. But, and this is always a major factor to consider, the tension and thrills work so well that it makes it easier to overlook the silliness of the plotting.

The two leads help enormously. Madison is someone I have enjoyed onscreen since she first made an impact as a talented child star, and I hope, at the very least, to see her continue delivering solid performances like this one. O’Connell has had fun in a variety of roles over the past few years, but he ends up being surprisingly well-suited to the cold psychopath he gets to portray here, and is rewarded with a number of very satisfying, and darkly comedic, moments. Turpel is fine, as is Chris Lee (playing the fated friend), but the other fun moments come from Chris Butler, playing a local Sheriff, and Jorge-Luis Pallo, playing a kind of “bag man” for our killer coroner.

Although the runtime is about 106 minutes, this feels like a slick and well-paced film, with Lussier making good use of a script that scatters around just enough details before taking us quickly into the dark heart of the premise. Everything is interesting and tense enough from the start, and then O’Connell steps in at just the right time, revealing just how much of a predicament our heroine is in.

The use of one main location helps to keep us rooting for characters trying to escape a trap, the cast are all used perfectly, for their characters and the pacing of the screenplay, and this turns into an impressive example of how to make the most of fairly limited resources. I don’t want to give this too much hype, but I am struggling to think of a better non-theatrical chiller from the last few years. Some implausibility drags it down a notch or two, but I was able to push that to one side while I was watching the whole thing play out.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Strangers: Prey At Night (2018)

A sequel that nobody was really crying out for, released a decade after the original movie, I have to say that my hopes weren't high for The Strangers: Prey At Night. But I'd heard some people say they loved it, which was a plus, and I knew it was directed by Johannes Roberts (another plus, check out his filmography . . . he's like the modern Renny Harlin of genre fare).

And I ended up enjoying it, in a very different way from my enjoyment of the first film.

Although it starts with the usual nonsense about it being based on true events (almost every movie could be sold that way, considering how little you need to actually link things to reality), The Strangers: Prey At Night quickly sets itself up as something out to entertain, rather than completely unnerve and scare you. Not that it doesn't have unnerving moments. They're just interspersed between scenes that focus on murderous set-pieces, often accompanied by a fine selection of '80s tunes.

A family is heading off on a long journey, and they're due to arrive very late at a trailer park. There's the usual dollop of family tension, this time caused by a strain on the finances as the parents plan to send their daughter to a private boarding school, but that is quickly pushed aside when they start to realise that there's something amiss at their lodgings for the night, especially when a young girl comes to the door twice to ask for someone who isn't there.

Co-written by Bryan Bertino, who directed and wrote the first film, and Ben Ketai, this is a film that feels very much like someone cutting loose and having fun after having to show some restraint the first time around. There are some more kills, a more interesting environment for the characters to inhabit, and more moments that feel enjoyably cinematic.

Roberts directs with a keen eye, with both the script and the visuals allowing for some nice nods to a multitude of other movies (from slasher classics to the thought-provoking work of Haneke), and he maintains a perfect pace as he drags viewers through an 85-minute thrill ride that gets going quickly enough and doesn't really slow down until it's all over.

Cast-wise, the main family unit is made up of Christina Hendricks, Martin Henderson, Bailee Madison, and Lewis Pullman. Hendricks and Henderson are both solid as the parents, but it's Madison and Pullman who get to shine more as the kids/young adults. As much as I have enjoyed seeing Madison in the many TV movies she has appeared in over the past few years, I hope to see her in more films that don't feel planned around ad breaks. She's very good here, as is Pullman (who also gave a great turn last year in Bad Times At The El Royale), and both play well off one another as siblings who believably wind one another up until they are threatened, at which point they pull together to show their true united front.

All the more refreshing because it isn't being meta, or feeling the need to add a load of laughs in between the bloodshed, The Strangers: Prey At Night is a very pleasant surprise indeed. I'd even say that it edges just ahead of the first film, and I recommend it to all slasher movie fans.

8/10

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Yule Love It: Pete's Christmas (2013)

Zachary Gordon is Pete, a teenager who wakes up on what will end up being the worst Christmas of his life. He's had to share a bed with his younger brother (Jake, played by Peter DaCunha) because of a visit from his grandpa (Bruce Dern). His parents (Molly Parker and Rick Roberts) have forgotten to get his present. He's ambushed by local bullies with snowballs, he also has to take part in an annual football game that he hates, and the dinner ends up not being cooked after a power failure. And, worst of all, Pete wakes up the next day to find that he's going to go through it all again. And again. And again.

Yes, it's another Christmassy riff on Groundhog Day (only this one isn't quite as enjoyable as the fun Christmas Do-Over), and there's a time loop that cannot be stopped until just the right lesson is learned, of course, which usually revolves around, well, I am sure you can guess.

Director Nisha Ganatra may not have stayed in this particular field, I think this is her only Christmas TV movie (to date), but writers Gregg Rossen and Brian Sawyer certainly settled into their groove nicely enough (Peter McKay also helped write this, but didn't follow them on their career path). This covers all of the bases well, and does a decent job of mixing the festivities with the timeloop fun. The main problem comes with some of the editing in the last third of the film, sometimes not making it clear enough how much time has passed, roughly, as we watch Pete try to perfect his day with varying degrees of success.

Gordon is decent in the lead role, and he will be a familiar face to many who have seen some of his extensive filmography (by the look of his credits, he has been acting since he was a very young lad), while Bruce Dern lifts the whole film up with his wonderful performance as the grandfather. The other cast members do fine, but the only one I took extra notice of was Bailee Madison, who possibly started acting at an even younger age than Gordon (most notably in Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark and Just Go With It) and did a few other Christmas movies at about this time, before moving on to a number of other projects.

Although it never really fulfils its full potential, Pete's Christmas is a fun, teen-friendly, holiday film that just about offsets the sugary schmaltz with enough moments that are genuinely amusing. I mean, I recommend dozens of films ahead of this one, including the time loop movies mentioned in the second paragraph, but if you're stuck with only the main TV channels and this comes on . . . you could do a lot worse.

5/10

There's a ridiculously pricey dvd here. Please click on the link and buy something else instead.
Or everyone could buy this cheaper disc from America.

Northpole (2014)

Another Christmas, another failing magical system. When will Santa and his elves realise that building a business on a foundation that requires consistent levels of positivity and suspension of disbelief is no way to maintain steady growth without legitimate concerns about the stability of the entire infrastructure? The answer would seem to be never.

This time around it is up to an elf named Clementine (Bailee Madison) to come up with a plan to save Christmas. She does this by encouraging a boy named Kevin (Max Charles) to whip up some Christmas spirit in his new hometown. That's easier said than done. The town isn't even going to have a tree-lighting ceremony this year, as it's apparently too expensive and unappreciated. Kevin's mother, Chelsea (Tiffani Thiessen), is reporting on the whole situation for a local newspaper. She may end up contributing to the fading Christmas spirit, but her pessimism it balanced out by the optimism of Ryan (Kevin's teacher, played by Josh Hopkins).

Poor Bailee Madison. This is far from the worst Christmas TV-movie that I've seen, but it's a shame to see her stuck in such fare after a decent performance in Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark and a scene-stealing turn in Just Go With It. She's perfectly fine in this, all Christmas cheer and earnestness, but I hope this is just a minor diversion on her way to some meatier roles further along the line. Young Charles is likable enough as the lad struggling to fit in to his new surroundings, and then subsequently focusing on a good cause to save a Christmas tradition, and Thiessen and Hopkins are both good as the adults who view his behaviour from different perspectives. Robert Wagner and Jill St. John pop up for a minute or two, playing Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, respectively, and I'm not denying that I smiled when they appeared onscreen.

The direction from Douglas Barr may be as pedestrian as you can get, and the script from Gregg Rossen and Brian Sawyer isn't exactly full of magic moments, but I must admit that they managed to invest the material with a sense of fun. A sense of fun is something often forgotten about, even in the world of the Christmas-themed TV movie. You'll always get moral lessons, of course, and there will usually be snow, plenty of cocoa, and often a character given the role of Scrooge. You'll see gifts under large Christmas trees, roaring log fires, and maybe even an elf or two. Fun, however, can be a bit harder to find, which is a great shame. Especially when it should be the easiest ingredient to mix in to any festive treat.

5/10

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