Netflix And Chill: Nightbooks (2021)

Although set in modern times, Nightbooks is a very standard fairytale premise of children who have been ensnared by an evil witch. It's a story about stories, and one that celebrates what we like about the classics we are introduced to at a very young age, from the basic moral lessons to the sheer fun of evil beings being simply evil.

There's not much time spent setting things up here. Viewers are introduced to young Alex (Winslow Fegley), a boy who has suddenly stopped writing the scary stories that he used to have so much fun with. Alex enters an apartment, drawn there by a TV screen that has The Lost Boys playing on it, and a moment later he is trapped. His captor is a witch named Natacha (Krysten Ritter), and there's another youngster, Yasmin (Lidya Jewett), being held there against their will.

Based on a book by J. A. White, Nightbooks feels like an easy hit for Netflix, although I am surprised that they didn't hold it back a few weeks, or even a month, to time the release more in line with Halloween. It's a fun horror movie that pitches things almost perfectly for both adults and younger viewers (although every parent will need to carefully judge whether or not their children will enjoy this without being too scared - the final act does ramp things up a bit).

Director David Yarovesky, who previously helmed the enjoyable Brightburn, does well enough, guided along the way by a screenplay co-written by Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis. It's very simply put together, with a few stories within the main story (as Alex is ordered to entertain Natacha with his tales), an exploration of the magical apartment, and an ongoing attempt to figure out a way to escape. The fact that the third act involves an actual "gingerbread house", an even more dangerous enemy, and a big oven underlines the simplicity of it all. It's Hansel & Gretel wandering through Tales From The Darkside: The Movie.

The production design is generally pretty good, although a middle section overuses CGI for one extended set-piece that I can't help feel would have been better with some practical effects, and there are some great uses of makeup and lighting to keep things feeling magical, spooky, and off-kilter. The music may not be great, but fans of Cry Little Sister will enjoy how that is used and covered.

As for the cast, both Fegley and Jewett are fine in their roles. They are believable and likeable enough. It's Ritter who is allowed to have the most fun though, making a strong impression from the very beginning with her mistreatment of the children she has caught. That covers the main cast, aside from a memorable cat named Lenore, although you get a few people popping up to lend support occasionally, usually in flashback scenes.

Obviously primed to kickstart a potential film series, Nightbooks is enjoyable and undemanding fun. I'm not sure if I would rush to watch a second one, but I certainly wouldn't be strongly opposed to the idea, especially if a bit more thought was given to showcasing the stories being told to keep the witch entertained.

7/10

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The Curse Of La Llorona (2019)

There's a lot to like about The Curse Of La Llorona, on the surface. I am going to start with that, just in case I get distracted and give the impression that I hated it. I didn't. Hell, it gets bonus points straight away for giving a lead role to Linda Cardellini. So it's just a shame that so many moments that could have worked well just fall surprisingly flat, with all concerned seemingly happier to turn what could have been an impressively fright-filled bit of mainstream horror into something a lot more tame, and sillier, than it needed to be.

The main premise is simple. There's an evil spirit, La Llorona, that frightens and takes away children, once they come under her gaze. Cardellini plays Anna Tate-Garcia, a woman employed in the social service sector, first seen being asked to work on a case involving a fraught mother (Patricia, played by Patricia Velasquez) and two young boys. More importantly, Anna has her own two children, Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen). It's only a matter of time until La Llorona catches sight of those two, giving her two new potential victims while Anna tries to figure out just what is going on, and how she can put an end to it.

Cardellini does well with her complex role of "strong, frightened mother", the kids do well while being terrorised and terrified, and Raymond Cruz is the other main cast member, playing Rafael Olvera, a priest on the edge who doesn't necessarily play by the rules but gets things done, dammit. Velasquez is fine, Marisol Ramirez is given a makeover to play La Llorona, and Tony Amendola appears to connect events to Annabelle. Because, yes, it is tangentially linked to that movie, which gives it a head start at the box office, and in the home entertainment market, thanks to the value of the IP, always fairly visible on all of the marketing materials.

Considering this is his first feature, Michael Chaves does a very good job in the director's chair, even if he wraps every main scare sequence in low lighting and murkiness. There are some nice visual touches throughout, but it's hard to remember them once the end credits have rolled after you realise that you spent most of the film squinting at one patch of darkness after another. The jump scares are reasonably effective, but only until you realise that it's the same couple of tricks being re-used every few minutes (either something glimpsed in one part of the frame to then be seen a lot closer to a main character in the next moment or a feigned bit of misdirection while La Llorona gets within reach of her prey), and the third act subsequently suffers because of this. What should have been a sustained helping of tension just becomes a bit tiresome, something you want over and done with at least 10 minutes before you actually get to the end.

Writers Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis (who previously wrote Five Feet Apart together, this is their first horror movie) seem to know what is expected of them, and I'm curious to know how much of this is their own creation and how much of it was shaped by the producers who wanted another hit entry in the ever-expanding Conjuring universe. They don't do a terrible job at all, considering this is their first foray into the horror genre, although the simplistic plot should have been fertile ground for some much better, scarier, set-pieces.

Far from the worst of these movies (that would still be The Nun), this is also far from the best. It just feels like some kind of place-holder, something to throw out as a treat for audiences in between the titles expected to do bigger business.

5/10

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