Netflix And Chill: The Curse Of Bridge Hollow (2022)

There are a couple of ways to summarise The Curse Of Bridge Hollow. I could tell you that it's a bit like another (unoffocial) Goosebumps movie. I could tell you that it's family fun nicely in line with the atmosphere and thrills of the spooky season. Or I could tell you that I watched it last year and forgot to review it until this year. That's not intended to condemn the film, but it does hint at it feeling more like a pleasant distraction as opposed to something more substantial. I'm glad I waited a year to rewatch and review this though, because I think I actually enjoyed it more this time around.

Priah Ferguson plays Sydney Gordon, a teenager who moves into a new town with her parents (played by Marlon Wayans and Kelly Rowland). While her parents seem happy about the move, Sydney is less than pleased. At least the residents of the town seem to be having fun as they get into the spirit of Halloween, but things turn dangerous when a curse starts to bring most of the many Halloween decorations to life. It isn't long until Sydney and her father are battling against spiders, zombies, killer clowns, and more while they try to figure out how to break the curse.

Written by Todd Berger, Robert Rugan, and John R. Morey, with only Berger having a decent selection of feature screenplays already under his belt, this is easygoing entertainment that manages to keep everything weighted more towards the fun than the scares (although those killer clowns may creep out a few viewers). It's not for the very young, but most teens who aren't yet ready for the illicit thrills of higher-certificated content should get a real kick out of this once it all gets going. And it's paced well enough to get going without too much pre-amble. You get to know the characters and the town, but things don't ever really settle down once the consequences of the curse start to become clear to everyone suddenly in danger. 

The cast do well to boost the material, with Wayans good fun in the role of "uptight dad" while Ferguson easily proves herself as a very capable young lead. Rowland gets a lot less to do, but she's fine, and it's a wise move to give supporting roles to John Michael Higgins, Lauren Lapkus, and Rob Riggle, all of whom are allowed to add some humour without being overused. Abi Monterey, Holly J. Barrett, and Myles Perez play three other teens who befriend/help our lead, and they also do a good job.

Jeff Wadlow directs with a steady hand, also making great use of special effects and CGI that blend together to make the all-too-lively Halloween decorations feel nicely textured and realised. Most importantly, no one thing overshadows anything else, which means that nothing feels unbalanced. That goes for the cast, the FX work, the chuckles and the chills, and the father-daughter bonding moments amidst the fight against frighteners.

If you're after some spooky family entertainment, or you just fancy watching something yourself that isn't aiming to turn you into a nervous wreck or a traumatised mess, then The Curse Of Bridge Hollow is a good choice for this time of year. I'm glad that I made time this year to rewatch it, and maybe this review will remind others that it is still tucked away on Netflix (as it is all too easy to forget when they spend so much time pushing their newer content to the top of the main page).

7/10

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The Happytime Murders (2018)

"No Sesame. All Street." That is the tagline for this film, directed by Brian Henson, that pairs Melissa McCarthy up with a blue-skinned puppet named Phil Philips (voiced by Bill Barretta). The two used to be partners in the police force, but that was before Philips was accused of deliberately missing a shot when he had a fellow puppet in his sights. That one incident led to Philips being kicked off the force, he now works as a detective, and a new ruling to forbid puppets from being cops. But when the puppet stars of "The Happytime Gang" start to get killed off, Philips is recruited to the local PD as a consultant, putting him right back alongside his old partner, Detective Connie Edwards (McCarthy). Hilarious conflict ensues, along with more puppet killings.

No, The Happytime Murders isn't all that original. The idea of a police story involving puppets has been done before (see The Fuzz). Mismatched buddy cop movies have been done before (see . . . every buddy cop movie ever). And you can't see any puppet debauchery without thinking of Meet The Feebles. None of which makes The Happytime Murders any less amusing, even if it's never as funny as it could be. The best gags are in the trailers, as is so often the way with middling-to-decent comedy films nowadays, but there are numerous chuckles to be had throughout every main sequence.

Brian Henson has plenty of puppet experience, of course (is there any brand more synonymous with puppetry than the Henson name?) but writer Todd Berger is the unknown quantity, as it were. I enjoyed It's A Disaster, his sophomore feature as writer-director, but am unfamiliar with any of his other work, which mainly consists of shorts. He does a decidedly okay job here, developing a story that he worked on with Dee Austin Robertson, but it's still the script that is the weakest element. Although the laughs are sprinkled throughout, this should have been sharper, funnier, and perhaps even full of more references to other onscreen puppets (although I realise that would be a hell of a tightrope to walk, in order to avoid upsetting anyone litigious).

McCarthy is a lot of fun in the lead human role, quick to rattle off insults and happy to share most of her screentime with all of the puppets. Other human stars include Joel McHale, playing an asshole FBI agent, Maya Rudolph, as the secretary to Philips, and Elizabeth Banks, playing the human star of "The Happytime Gang", and they all have fun mingling with their fabric co-stars, who come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

If you only see just one puppet-filled comedy that also throws lots of sex and drugs into the mix then you can find a better option. But the good thing is that you don't have to choose to see just one. And I, for one, am happy about that.

6/10

The Happytime Murders will be available to buy on shiny disc here.
Americans can buy it here.

It's A Disaster (2012)

A very small-scale disaster movie, It's A Disaster isn't all that concerned with disaster at all, at least not in the traditional sense. It's a comedy about relationship disasters, although it also happens to take place during an actual, relatively unseen, disaster.

Tracy (Julia Stiles) is taking her new boyfriend, Glen (David Cross), to a brunch that will allow him to meet a few of her friends. Also in attendance are Buck (Kevin M. Brennan) and Lexi (Rachel Boston), Shane (Jeff Grace) and Hedy (America Ferrera), and hosts Pete (Blaise Miller) and Emma (Erinn Hayes). Things start off as tense and awkward as these things normally do, but the tension rises up a notch when Pete and Emma make an announcement. And then a bunch of dirty bombs explode nearby, which really looks likely to spoil the whole day.

Written and directed by Todd Berger, this is a small film that never tries to pretend otherwise. Thankfully, one or two scenes help to remind viewers of a whole world outside the house that the characters are stuck in. The majority of the movie, however, concerns mounting pressure amongst eight people inside four walls.

The cast all do a decent job. Stiles is someone I don't usually really like, for some reason, but she's very good in this role. Cross is as enjoyable as ever, Miller, Hayes and Grace are all just fine, and Ferrera is a lot of fun (especially when deciding that her time might be better spent creating a drug concoction to help her get wasted). It's Brennan and Boston who bring the ensemble down. They're not necessarily bad, they're just stuck with the weakest characters, a couple painted in comedic brushstrokes that feel too broad compared to the rest of the film.

Aside from the treatment of those two characters, the script is a good mix of relationship stuff that we've all seen many times before, some fun character moments, and a few great lines. It's not the most original premise, that much is obvious from the opening scenes, but it does enough to win viewers over by the time it gets to the end.

I doubt most people will like it as much as I did though, and I still can't quite put my finger on why I liked it so much. Give it a go anyway, and thank or curse me when the end credits roll.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Disaster-Blu-ray-David-Cross/dp/B00C3DIYDM/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1402801232&sr=1-3&keywords=it%27s+a+disaster