Shudder Saturday: Elevator Game (2023)

I was slightly predisposed to disliking Elevator Game before I saw it because I saw the words "based on actual events"on the poster for it. While that's true, in terms of the silly social media trend of pressing elevator buttons in a certain order in the belief that you will see some other world or summon some spirit, or both, it's a work of fiction that only uses a small amount of truth as a starting point. It happens, and has been happening for decades now, but I am still allowed to be irritated when it's such a tenuous use of the phrase.

Anyway, the very simple plot is that a group of people who make videos debunking urban legends end up being asked to record themselves taking part in the elevator game. Viewers know this may not end well, having seen one young woman face a horrible fate at the very start of the film, but there's over an hour of the film dedicated to showing us the group participating in the game and dealing with the consequences of it.

Made by the people who delivered the slightly disappointing The Creatures Were Stirring (Rebekah McKendry directing, while her husband, David Ian McKendry, is tasked with joining Travis Seppala in the writing department), BUT also gave us the pretty great Glorious, Elevator Game isn't terrible, but it's missing some care and skill to make it any good.

While the game itself seems silly to someone like me (i.e. someone not interested in jumping on to any social media trend like a lemming), that wouldn't have been a problem if the rest of the film had made up for the dubious starting point with some enjoyable set-pieces and decent characters. There are some scares here that aren't too bad, for all they feel like weak imitations of scares from much better movies, but the characters and tone are never as strong as required (especially noticeable when someone walks into a restaurant to claim as much salt as possible in order to prepare some kind of protection).

Nobody onscreen is doing bad work, and I'll take a moment here to namecheck Gino Anania, Alec Carlos, Nazariy Demkowicz, Madison MacIsaac, Verity Marks, Liam Stewart-Kanigan, and Megan Best, they're unable to develop anything beyond the weakest of characterisations. No one character really stands out until you see who is being left for the final scenes, and I suspect most viewers will struggle, as I did, to be invested in the outcome of this. Ultimately . . . it's a film about people finding out after having fucked around. Which is enough to make me enjoy the few gore gags and shrug for the rest of the runtime.

I am sure that McKendry has the ability to make another properly good horror one day, but this isn't it. In fact, it feels like a big step backward when compared to the wonderful strangeness of her previous feature.

4/10

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Shudder Saturday: Glorious (2022)

I like Ryan Kwanten, the star of Glorious, and responsible for carrying most of the film on his shoulders, but he hasn't really done well with his choice of film projects since the excellent Red Hill many moons ago. I also like Rebekah McKendry, despite the fact that she and David Ian McKendry disappointed me with their Christmas horror anthology All The Creatures Were Stirring. So I was hoping for the best, but also expecting the worst, with Glorious. Kwanten starring, Rebekah McKendry directing, and a script co-written by Joshua Hull, David Ian McKendry, and Todd Rigney. 

No need to try and keep anyone in suspense here. I really enjoyed this. It's a simple, dialogue-focused film that also sneaks in some wonderful visuals, as well as a great vocal performance from J. K. Simmons.

But let's get back to Kwanten for now. He plays Wes, a man who we first see in a state of some distress. He seems to be broken-hearted, but maybe there's something more to it. He heads into a fairly isolated roadside rest stop, just to use the toilet, and then finds that he's unable to leave. He also finds that he's not alone. Someone (J. K. Simmons) claiming to be some kind of god, starts speaking to him from behind a glory hole in the bathroom. It soon becomes clear that Wes will need to make some difficult choices before he can leave the rest stop, which may require him to also face up to some horrible truths.

Although the premise may seem too insubstantial for a feature runtime, Glorious actually works perfectly. It's a familiar concept given an enjoyable new set of clothes to wear, and the main cast complement the smart and amusing script. It is also helped by a number of scenes showing flashbacks/memories that Wes is processing, mainly with his ex-partner (Brenda, played by Sylvia Grace Crim), allowing viewers to escape the confines of the grimy toilet area without REALLY escaping the confines of the grimy toilet area. And McKendry does plenty to keep the film visually interesting, switching between different viewing angles and gradually opening up the environment around the two main characters conversing.

Kwanten does well with his best role in years, likeable, and occasionally dopey, in a way that he performs so easily. I'd say that his casting even manages to underline the entire finale of the film in a way that makes it more effective and brilliantly obvious. Simmons has a great voice, and his delivery of every line here is a treat, starting off as a friendly stranger before quickly turning into a cosmic horror of potentially mind-shattering proportions. Sort of. Crim isn't in too many scenes, but she has a great presence, her winning performance helping her character cast a long shadow over everything.

I don't want to dive into the kind of hyperbole that I much prefer to avoid altogether, but Glorious works as an object lesson on how to make an independent horror movie with fairly limited resources (obviously, having cast members like Kwanten, Simmons, and Crim helps a lot). Have a good enough script, use numerous tricks to make your one main location interesting, and do your best to ensure that the pacing is spot on. And try to convince J. K. Simmons to take on any voice roles. Simple. 

8/10

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Yule Love It: All The Creatures Were Stirring (2018)

Maybe I was a bit harsh on A Christmas Horror Story. That was my first thought after the end credits rolled on All The Creatures Were Stirring. As I put my thoughts, and rating, in order, I started to think it more and more. In fact, I'll need to revisit that film one day, considering I rated it only slightly higher than this one and now think back on it with a vague memory of constant Christmassy-infused horror fun.

I won't find myself thinking back on this film with such hazy fondness. Co-written and co-directed by David Ian McKendry and Rebekah McKendry, All The Creatures Were Stirring is a Christmas-themed anthology horror movie, hence my mind heading to A Christmas Horror Story, that proves to be almost consistently disappointing. It has a great framing device, the strongest part of the whole film, but nothing much works when it comes to the short tales.

Graham Skipper and Ashley Clements play Max and Jenna, two friends who meet up for a sorta-date during the holiday scene. They buy tickets and go in to see a piece of theatre, entitled "All The Creatures Were Stirring", and that's when things start to get odd. The performances, shown at the beginning and end of each tale before a transition to standard movie presentation, are odd enough, but the whole atmosphere is a bit off. The first tale is a Secret Santa scenario in an office space, but someone has tampered with the gifts. The second tale shows a man who ends up locked out of his car when he just wants to get home for dinner. The third is a modern riff on A Christmas Carol. The fourth shows the consequences of a seasonal hit and run. Last, we get the odd tale of a Christmas dinner with a major difference. Meanwhile, the wraparound material gets weirder and weirder.

It's hard to pin down exactly what has gone wrong with All The Creatures Were Stirring but I'll try to rattle off a list of contributing factors. Bear in mind, however, that this is decent stuff, from a technical standpoint. Although the script isn't anywhere near as good as it could be, the McKendrys can at least be applauded for trying to make everything look and sound as good as the budget allows, and they're helped by a pretty solid selection of main cast members (Jonathan Kite is the main reason I got through the third tale).

Okay, where to begin, where to begin? I've already mentioned my enjoyment of the framing device. No complaints there. And I really enjoy the first tale. It still has flaws but it's a fun start to the proceedings. Things start to sour when you realise that a) none of the stories have a resolution either satisfying or amusing enough, and b) most of the stories don't actually make the best use of the trappings of the season. That may sound silly of me to say, especially when one tale is literally just a truncated and updated version of the famous Charles Dickens Christmas classic, but it's true. Most of the tales feel as if someone remembered at the last minute that they were set at Christmas and then threw some tinsel around. They also feel very disconnected from one another. I don't need all modern anthology films to have criss-crossing narratives and connective tissue but I do think some more hints at a cohesive mythos would have helped these stories to feel more satisfying, even without any proper resolution.

It's obvious why the McKendrys decided to take this route, having already made a number of short films on the way to this feature debut. They must have thought that an anthology horror would allow them to basically piece together a few shorts and stay within their comfort zone. The final product reminds us, and perhaps them, that there's a bit more to it than that. I'll be interested to see what they do next though, especially if they move towards filling a standard runtime with just the one story to tell.

4/10

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