The Invisible Man Review

What’s spookier than someone you literally cannot see?

If you haven’t heard of “The Dark Universe,” it’s essentially Universal’s play at a cinematic universe but with reboots of their classic horror films. It started poorly with Dracula: Untold, and then remained unsuccessful with the release of The Mummy. Things were looking bleak until they struck gold with their latest release: The Invisible Man.

Adapted off of the 1933 movie of the same name, this one takes a more modern approach both in the themes of the movie and the technology that drives the events forward. The story follows Cecelia, a woman who escapes an abusive marriage with a wealthy tech entrepreneur. She then hears that her ex-husband committed suicide shortly after and everything seems fine—until mysterious and sinister things start happening to her and the people around her.

Now, this movie is certainly not perfect. The atmosphere and tone of the movie is more suspenseful and scare-driven, but it doesn’t fully achieve that. There were a lot of moments that were fairly predictable and when you know what’s coming, it tends to let some of the tension out the sequences. It’s not like that the whole movie—the second half has a lot of interesting twists and turns—but it’s certainly notable.

Part of what really makes this movie work, however, is how unique the filmmaking is. With the antagonist being invisible, it really opens up different spaces and shots. Their usage of negative space is something you don’t see very often in movies but it works particularly well when you have no clue what the psychotic sociopath (who happens to be invisible) is doing or where he’s coming from next. You could be looking at a completely empty room but it still causes you to wonder is “Where’s he hiding?”

The camerawork is also so smooth that it never takes you out of it, it feels like you’re moving naturally with the characters and settings as the scenes progress. Pair that with the attention to detail in everything and it all just feels really fleshed out.

And of course like with everything she’s in, Elisabeth Moss takes the movie to another level. Her acting and raw emotion in every scene brings an intensity to the scenes that likely wouldn’t have been there without someone as talented as she is. The stark contrast between how her character acts at the beginning of the film compared to at the end is staggering and goes to show how much of a range Moss has.

In the end, The Invisible Man is definitely a quality movie. The story is well thought-out, the characters are interesting, the actual filmmaking is creative and all-around strong. It’s the whole package. Just don’t go in expecting something that’ll chill you to the bone, because it’s not quite the tense, suspense-filled horror that it was trying to be. Go give it a watch nonetheless.

The Hall Score: 8.5/10

March 15, 2020 0

Midsommar Review

One of the best and most disturbing films this sommar

After just how good Hereditary was, expectations were high for Midsommar. Ari Aster had done a stellar job of crafting a horror that was both beautiful and terrifying. With his sophomore attempt, he decided to go a different route and while it’s not as scary, it’s beautiful in its own way.

The story follows a young couple who travels to Sweden to participate in a midsummer festival with some friends. While everything starts out fine, things start to take a strange and twisted turn as the days go on.

Midsommar is one of those movies that will both captivate you to the point that you can’t stop watching and disgust you to the point that you want to stop. It’s this internal clash throughout most of the film that brings a sense of dread and disturbance to any innocent soul who goes to watch this, especially in theaters.

And it really is beautiful. Midsommar is hands down one of the best movies I’ve ever seen visually. The way they use light and color along with special effects here and there just adds a sense of dream-like quality to all the weird happenings throughout. It feels like one big drug trip that gets more intense as time goes on. This coupled with the masterful usage of sound that Aster has become known for creates an experience like no other.

But boy do they go hard on the gross imagery. There’s not a huge amount of it besides small things here and there that unsettle you, but they don’t hold back when things start to get going. The gore is extreme and there’s one sex scene that is so unsettling, it’s hard to describe in words. Apparently the movie was rated NC-17 for a few weeks before Aster convinced the MPAA to knock it down to R and I don’t doubt that fact one bit.

Just don’t go in expecting Hereditary. Midsommar is an extremely slow burn that gives you so many thoughts and feelings that it’s hard to register what you saw coming out of your first showing. This is one that you’ll need to see two or three times to truly appreciate everything that Aster put together in his latest creation. It’s slow, a bit too slow at times, but when everything starts to come together in the end for one grand conclusion, it’s all worth it.

Midsommar is one of the best movies this year and there’s no question about that in my mind. It’s certainly not for everyone, and many won’t get what all the hype is about, but it’ll go down as a masterpiece of filmmaking from our era. If you have the patience and the stomach for it, go see Midsommar in theaters before this sommar is over.

The Hall Score: 9/10

July 19, 2019 0

Ma Review

Don’t go to Ma’s house… or this movie for that matter

Octavia Spencer has taken a variety of roles throughout her career, but one she has yet to take on is the villain of a horror film. That is, until Ma of course.

Directed by Tate Taylor, the movie follows Sue Ann (Octavia Spencer), a lonely middle-aged woman who invites some teenagers to her basement to party in. As she grows closer to the kids, she transitions from the friendly “Ma” into an obsessive monster that terrorizes their lives.

While a fairly good concept, Ma doesn’t deliver much to enjoy. The pacing is flawed, with the build-up feeling slow and clunky. Most of the characters are one-dimensional, resulting in you having no reason to care for their well-being. There’s a few surprises but there’s not much actual substance beyond teenagers partying or being stalked for majority of the film. It’s a horror movie without much horror in it.

Even the climax didn’t surprise if you’ve seen the trailer. Most of the spookiness was flawed in the fact that I already knew most of what was going to happen because they’ve shown in it promotional footage. Sure, once it actually gets intense, it’s a bit thrilling, and the final showdown is fun to watch, but it’s still not enough.

To top it all off, there’s really no closure to be found at the end. The action heats up, the big climax hits, and then suddenly the credits are rolling. We have no clue what happened to any of the main group of kids and the connected main characters. You’re just left wondering.

The real saving grace for the movie is easily Octavia Spencer. She’s obviously a phenomenal actress, but Ma shows that she can do a little bit of everything. She made the character unsettling in every way, and showed the gradual transition from kind but a bit awkward into a full-blown unstable psychopath.

This redeemed many of the scenes for me, with every moment involving Ma being better than the ones without. While her backstory was a bit strange, Spencer sold it nonetheless. She was able to transition from emotion to emotion seamlessly as she manipulated the people around her.

Nonetheless, I left the theater underwhelmed. The only real reason to go see Ma is if you want to see a B-movie horror and have already gone to see Brightburn (or really any other thrilling movie out in theaters). The silver lining of it all is we might be able to see Octavia Spencer pick up similar roles in the future, which could have spectacular results if paired with better writing or direction. Ma’s motto may be “get home safe,” but you won’t have that problem if you just stay home instead.

The Hall Score: 4/10

May 31, 2019 0

Brightburn Review

If Superman went bad and killed everybody

The story of Superman involves a couple in Kansas finding and raising an alien child that turns out to have superhuman powers. In Brightburn, they take that same formula but lead that child on a new path. What would Superman be like if he decided to kill instead of using his powers for good?

Directed by David Yarovesky and produced by James Gunn, the story follows the slow descent to madness of Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn), a 12-year old boy with superhuman powers while his human parents (Elizabeth Banks, David Denman) try to cope with the consequences of their actions. The movie is a blending of two popular genres that haven’t really been put together before: superhero and horror.

The movie honestly surprised me with how enjoyable most of it was. The build-up was well executed, with an atmosphere being built that makes you dread what is coming. The performances were also quite good out of most of the cast. They make it clear from the beginning that this boy has some issues, they’re going to come out pretty soon, and his parents have no clue how to react to the destruction that will come with it.

When the action heats up, it’s also extremely intense. The way they use sound and lighting is next-level and add an extra element of horror to the movie itself. There gore is absolutely unreal and is hard to watch at times. There’s a few cheap jump scares here and there but it never overly relies on them to make you fear this child in the red mask.

They don’t overly do it though. It’s well paced with him doing more and more harmful things to the people around him. It doesn’t ever feel overbearing, it crescendos up to an insane climax near the end that keeps you locked in and waiting for what’s next. It’s hard not to feel helpless at how powerful this young boy is. It’s also hard not to feel terrified at what he’s doing with these newfound powers. Dunn really did him justice by making Brandon as creepy as humanly (or superhumanly?) possible.

Brightburn is not without its flaws though. The writing itself feel like the main source of any issues I had, and I’m not sure if it was laziness or whatever else. A lot of the elements throughout simply feel predictable or not thought through. There were multiple times where I knew exactly what they were going to do in a certain scene. We also never learn any backstory on why he’s doing what he’s doing, why it’s just now hitting him, or what is leading him down this dark path. It just feels a bit random and needs a bit more fleshing out to reach its true potential.

The conclusion was also a bit rough. It’s hard to explain without spoiling but it just felt cheap and it looked cheap too. It feels like they were trying to subvert expectations to make things more bleak, or maybe they’re wanting to leave it open for a sequel, but it just didn’t feel right. To top it all off, they cut into the credits by playing “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish which didn’t fit the mood at all. I don’t know, it was just an underwhelming finish to what was overall a pretty damn good horror movie.

Brightburn is worth a watch from any horror or superhero fans because it brings a fresh new take to both genres by combining the two to make a movie that is both disgusting and awesome. It’s not a perfect film, and the ending left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but it pleasantly surprised me nonetheless. Here’s hoping for more creative ideas like it in the future because the premise was great, the execution just left me wishing they did a little more to deliver.

The Hall Score: 7/10

May 24, 2019 0

Pet Sematary Review

Sometimes dead is better

Disclaimer: This review was originally written as content for the University Daily Kansan

Following the 2017 remake of Stephen King’s “It” becoming the highest-grossing horror movie of all time,the author’s work has been making a comeback. With “Pet Sematary,” the remake of the 1989 film of the same name, directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer try to recreate the magic and push it even further. Despite its potential, the attempt to make another Stephen King blockbuster didn’t quite hit its mark.

The story follows a family of four moving to rural Maine from their busy life in Boston. After the parents Louis and Rachel (played by Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz, respectively) discover a spooky burial ground in the woods near their home, tragedy strikes and Louis goes to his neighbor Jud (John Lithgow) for help. This sets off a chain of events with a mysterious evil threatening the safety of everyone involved.

The movie’s strengths are in its atmosphere and suspense. Throughout a good portion of the film, you can feel the woods’ dreadful aura. When tragedy hits, the mix of sound and imagery makes you feel the family’s sadness, especially from Louis. When things go bad, you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for what will happen next. It’s a slow burn at times, but it feels like it’s properly preparing you for something that will shock and horrify you when the inevitable evil comes to take the family.

However, those strengths come back to bite it in the end. The biggest flaws were easily the pacing and the end of the film. The movie has plenty of build-up leading to the climax, but then the last 15 minutes are rushed before finishing without any real satisfaction. There’s no payoff — it just suddenly ends and the credits roll.

The story and the characters didn’t quite make the impact they were meant to, either. Certain plot points or characters could have made a difference, but it felt like they weren’t built up enough to be significant, or they were just thrown in to push the plot forward. The main characters didn’t get the development that they deserved. There’s an entire subplot about a twisted event in Rachel’s childhood that shows that the filmmakers tried, but it feels disconnected and meaningless.

The movie itself also just isn’t all that scary. It’s suspenseful, but in the end I felt more tense and uncomfortable than terrified; and not the kind of tense or uncomfortable that comes from a good horror film — it has a good scare here and there, but overall it’s more gross than anything else.

“Pet Sematary” is another mediocre horror movie in a genre already bloated with mediocrity and subpar projects. If you’re an avid fan of Stephen King or are just looking for a good spring spook, “Pet Sematary” is worth the watch. Otherwise, this re-envisioning of the story is unnecessary. Jud was right; sometimes dead is better.

The Hall Score: 5/10

April 8, 2019 0

Us Review

Jordan Peele’s sophomore film does not disappoint

After the breakout success of “Get Out,” expectations were high for Jordan Peele’s next major movie, “Us.” After months of teasing from Peele on Twitter, the wait is finally over and it seems that he has delivered once again. The film debuted at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and despite the fact that it has slightly fallen after opening nationwide, there is positive buzz from critics and fans alike.

The story follows Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) as she goes on a trip with her husband (Winston Duke) and her two kids (Shahadi Joseph, Evan Alex) to a beachfront where she had a traumatic experience in her childhood. Everything seems fine until four mysterious intruders appear in the night, a duplicate family of themselves.

This movie delivers multiple integral aspects of film near perfectly. The acting is phenomenal, the cinematography is unique and unsettling, the building of atmosphere is extremely well done, and the blending of horror and comedy is flawless. The only real “issue” of the movie that people are talking about is that if you look deep enough, there’s some holes in the story that don’t quite add up. I disagree. Part of the beauty of it is that unlike “Get Out,” the meaning isn’t straightforward and obvious. It’s up to the viewer to interpret what they watched and make sense of the sequences and events that took place.

One thing that is just so impressive about the performances is the fact that each of these actors had to perform two conflicting roles. Lupita Nyong’o absolutely killed her performance. You can feel her emotion throughout and her duplicate self is absolutely terrifying. There’s a fight sequence near the end of the film that is so well done, I can’t stop thinking about it. I genuinely believe that she will have a shot for Best Actress with this role. She stole the show and that’s that.

Winston Duke also does a great job of playing that heartwarming but embarrassing dad. He’s a great comedy relief throughout, but when he needs to focus up, he does what he needs to do to take care of business protect the family. My last acting shout-out will go to someone who will likely not get talked about as much, Elisabeth Moss. Playing a family friend, she’s somehow able to pull off both a stuck-up diva and a crazy woman side-by-side and make it look easy.

Outside of the actors themselves, just the creativity of Jordan Peele’s cinematography conveys the atmosphere brilliantly. He pulls off shots that make the viewers question the meaning of every little detail, as well as making you feel both unsettled and engaged. This helps with the blending of two very different genres that creates an overall enjoyable experience. If you think “Get Out” was a great mix of horror and comedy, he takes both to the next level with this one. It’s a weird feeling, not knowing whether to laugh or cry throughout a large majority of the movie.

The icing on the cake is the well-balanced pacing of the three acts. It builds well early on, setting things up without being too slow and losing your attention. When the action kicks in, it keeps you engaged without overdoing it through the entire middle hour of the movie, before finishing everything off with a stunning climax that leaves the audience questioning everything that they just witnessed. I never once felt tired or bored. I was intensely focused through every second, whether it was a laugh out loud moment or a scene that was truly horrifying.

“Us” is a must-watch film for horror fans and movie-goers alike, rivaling “Hereditary” as one of the best scary movies in recent history, if not ever. It’s a very different feel from “Get Out” but it’s still spectacular nonetheless. If you have the time, go out and see this movie. It is well worth it. Peele created another masterful film, showing he is not a one-hit wonder, and with that I will be awaiting his next project anxiously.

The Hall Score: 10/10

March 23, 2019 0