Shudder Saturday: The Sacrifice Game (2023)

Co-written and directed by Jenn Wexler, her second feature after The Ranger, this is a fun and interesting horror movie that mixes some bloody mutilation with a dash of demonology and a sprinkling of festive holiday, ummmm, cheer. It shows Wexler continuing to move in the right direction with her directorial career, showcasing her ability to provide a fresh lick of paint on some familiar horror movie tropes while also having the confidence to deliver some conventional plot points that will have observant film fans smiling knowingly as things start to turn out as expected.

Samantha (Madison Baines) and Clara (Georgia Acken) are two young girls who end up staying at their boarding school during the Christmas holiday break. There's nobody else around, with the exception of a couple of young staff members (Rose, played by Chloë Levine, and Jimmy, played by Gus Kenworthy), so it's probably going to be a dull time for the girls. That doesn't turn out to be the case though, not at all, because a group of murderous individuals turn up at the door of the school, quickly making their way into the building and revealing their deadly intentions. This group, seemingly headed up by Jude (Mena Massoud), wants to get everything in place to summon a demon. Maybe they don't really know what they're doing though. And if you don't really know what you're doing while trying to summon a demon then you could end up in all kinds of trouble.

Having worked on the script with first-timer Sean Redlitz, Wexler does a good job of quickly setting up the main characters and establishing the central location while leaving a lot of room for the developments that are due throughout the second half of the film. Viewers get all of the information that they need, and not much more, and things are established in a way that leaves everyone and everything available to be violently removed from the proceedings at any moment.

Although Baines and Acken seem to be the potential focus of the film, there's a fluid movement around all of the characters onscreen, with changes in power and loyalties creating a nervous energy that makes everyone a lot less sure of themselves as they were when they first entered the screen. Baines and Acken are both good, but neither actress has to carry the film on their young shoulders. The weight is shared out between the equally talented Massoud, Levine, Kenworthy, Olivia Scott Welch, Derek Johns, and Laurent Pitre. I say equally talented, but both Levine and Welch manage to stand out from the pack with their respective performances, both becoming characters that you want  to see survive the craziness for very different reasons.

Although I didn't like The Ranger as much as many other people, The Sacrifice Game is a film I'll happily recommend to people after something new that doesn't have a big studio marketing department behind it. There are things that hold it back (I think a bit more build up could have helped, giving us some more tension, and the location could have been turned into more of an essential aspect), but it's generally quite a good time, it has enough trimmings to remind you that it's set during the Christmas holiday period, and I can already envision myself rewatching it while keeping an eye out for the more subtle character moments that play into the bigger picture.

7/10

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Shudder Saturday: Depraved (2019)

I may have mentioned it before, but Larry Fessenden is seen as a bit of a glowing light within the horror community. People have so many nice things to say about him, and he always seems to be happy to lend his time/ear/advice to others asking for it. In fact, I KNOW I have mentioned this before, because it is how I started my review of Wendigo (a film I didn't really enjoy). I had more hope for Depraved, although it was completely unfounded. This is not a film I have heard anyone really discuss, but I wanted to enjoy a movie written and directed by Fessenden.

Well, I did. Phew!

A modern reworking of the classic Frankenstein tale, Depraved starts with a young couple, Alex (Owen Campbell) and Lucy (Chloë Levine), having a small argument. It's nothing permanent, although it's the final exchange within their relationship. Because Alex is killed. We then cut to the birth of a man named Adam (Alex Breaux), a man stitched together and brought to life by Henry (David Call), helped in his endeavours by the far-from-magnanimous Polidori (Joshua Leonard). Teaching Adam how to develop his skills is an interesting process, and leads to difficult times when his internal turmoil leads to him lashing out at those around him. He may also have some part of him connected to Lucy.

Not interested in gore or major set-pieces, although it's not a bloodless affair, Fessenden impressed with his approach to the material here. In fact, pair this up with Frankenstein (2015) and you have a very interesting double-bill of movies that manage to provide fresh takes on the text while never losing sight of the moral quandaries at the heart of the story. Neither feel as if they're trying to be too clever, or trendy, which can often happen with modernised takes on classic tales.

But let's get back to this. While Fessenden has taken care to have his writing and direction display the material in a suitable, and unfussy, way (with some nice visual touches showing the mental development of Adam), he's helped by a cast who do some great work for him. Call is a fantastic "Frankenstein", caring for his creation, yet also conflicted by the ways he wants to both push him and keep him under control. Breaux is an impressive creature, his look changing at various times in the movie, and delivers a physical performance that embodies that strong man-child figuring things out amidst a lot of confusion and mental struggles. Leonard is a lot of fun as Polidori, the one who is really trying to pull the strings, and Levine is likeable as Lucy, Ana Kayne, Maria Dizzia, and Addison Timlin help out as, respectively, Liz, Georgina, and Shelley.

If you know Fessenden, then you know that he often provides genre treats that don't like to conform to the box-ticking that some fans may prefer. That's a really good thing when the material is strong enough, and the final result interesting, as it is here. And when it doesn't work out, well, you still have to admire his constant attempts to deliver something new to audiences. I'll take a Fessenden misfire over 100 other attempts to make the next Paranormal Activity. And I'll take a Fessenden bullseye over pretty much every major studio attempt to revisit/reboot the horror IPs that they view as potential big money-makers.

8/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Transfiguration (2016)

Whenever people complain about the state of vampire movies, as they have done ever since the success of the Twilight series (it's fine, not all films are created with hardcore horror fans in mind), I am always heartened to be reminded of the great variety of films within the subgenre. This is not unique to the vampire film, all of the archetypes still allow smart and creative film-makers to provide a wide range of tales either using or breaking the general "rules", as they see fit. But few have the wealth of imagery and tropes to draw on as well as the vampire movie (any movie reworking Frankenstein would be the next contender, as far as I'm concerned).

The Transfiguration sits nicely alongside some of the more interesting examples of the vampire movie that we've had over the years but, perhaps more interestingly, it equally sits alongside a number of quality dramatic films that show glimpses of life as an African American in the USA. Martin is namechecked, but so is the aforementioned Twilight, as the boy at the centre of it all tries to provide himself with a unique identity patched together from others he has decided to identify with. He kills and drinks blood, but does that make him any better or worse than the local kids who drain money from the wallets of those looking for drugs and kill those they take a disliking to?

Eric Ruffin plays the main character, Milo, an introverted young man who lives with his older brother, Lewis (Aaron Moten, billed here as Aaron Clifton Moten). Milo acts very much like a vampire, and seems to have no qualms about picking off victims he can then suck blood from, but it's not initially made clear what powers he has, if any, and what could strongly affect him. He develops a friendship with a young woman named Sophie (Chloë Levine), with the two spending a lot of time together discussing vampirism and their preferred examples of it throughout decades of cinema.

The feature debut of writer-director Michael O'Shea (before this he had crafted a short film titled Milo, I have yet to see it but it may have the germ of an idea expanded for this), The Transfiguration is a perfect mix of horror elements and character study. Milo spends a lot of the screentime being a typical teen, but moments of sudden violence crop up to remind viewers of how he views himself, and how coldly he can decide the fate of anyone he sees as a victim. Although veering between the sweet and the horrific, this never loses focus, never gets the balance and tone wrong, and basically never puts a foot wrong. It would make a fine companion piece to Martin, which is high praise indeed (if you enjoy that movie as much as I do).

Ruffin is fantastic in the lead role. It's a quiet performance, very natural and somehow garnering your sympathy despite showing a very dark side. Levine is just as good by his side, and the two have a great chemistry in their many scenes together. They're both slightly awkward while also being completely open, neither fearing the judgement or rejection of the other once the strong connection is made. Moten does well in his much smaller role, as do all of the supporting cast members, but the film belongs to the leads.

Thought-provoking, engrossing, surprisingly emotional in places, this is a film to rewatch, be rewarded by, and appreciate. In fact, it's a near-masterpiece.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

Shudder Saturday: The Ranger (2018)

Directed by Jenn Wexler, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Giaco Furino, The Ranger is a modern slasher movie that appears more widely available now after a series of crowd-pleasing festival appearances that marked it out as one I knew I wanted to see ASAP.

Described in almost every review as a punk slasher movie, the plot sees a group of friends escaping to a cabin in the woods after a run in with the law at a music show. The individuals are Chelsea (Chloë Levine), her boyfriend Garth (Granit Lahu), Jerk (Jeremy Pope), his boyfriend Abe (Bubba Weiler), and a girl named Amber (Amanda Grace Benitez). Chelsea used to spend a lot of time in the cabin as a young girl, and she is remembered fondly by the local park ranger (Jeremy Holm). Unfortunately, the ranger isn't so nice to everyone. He has a very strict way of dealing with people he views as disrespectful and troublesome.

Although it is fun in places, The Ranger is a bit too uneven to be a complete success. I mentioned that every review describes it as a punk slasher movie just to say here that I'm not quite sure how that actually works in the movie. Take away those opening scenes and all you have are a bunch of characters who dress kinda punk. And they drive a van that looks like a punk version of the Mystery Machine, I guess. It feels like something that has been thrown in to try and give the film more of an identity than it actually has, without anything substantial backing it up. Perhaps this is an attempt to make up for the lack of focus elsewhere, especially when it comes to the titular killer, but it backfires, especially for anyone who has enjoyed movies that actually DO feel punk.

The direction is fine, with Wexler doing good work with a bunch of limited resources and money (I assume, because this is not the kind of thing to get millions and millions thrown at it). Where it suffers is in the script and pacing, with the latter particularly problematic in a film with such a brief runtime. This runs at just under 80 minutes, yet the killing doesn't really start until just over the halfway mark, and there's a final act that feels padded out and badly misjudged. The Ranger gets some amusing lines, mainly while commenting on bad behaviour using the various laws and codes he wants people to abide by, but nowhere near enough. This had the potential to be much more fun, and it just isn't.

The acting from Levine and Holm is very good, which makes up for the rest of the cast. It's not that they're terrible, they're not, but they're just not given much to separate them from the group. They're a collective, without enough identity or individuality to help you care for them when the killing begins.

None of this would matter, of course, if the kills were good enough. They're not, unfortunately. There's one great piece of nastiness, but the rest all seems too tame and uninventive. Even the backstory feels slightly lacking, compared to the lengthy history of "killer motivational moments" that we've had over the decades.

The Ranger is not a bad film. It's well made, the cast do decent work, and the premise has the potential to be a lot of fun. It's just a shame that the potential is never fulfilled. This should fly by, from one death to the next, but it drags instead. And a brief slasher movie aiming to entertain horror movie fans should never drag.

6/10

Americans can buy the movie on shiny disc here.