Film Reviews by NW

I was quite excited to see this, expecting a mashup of Southern Gothic, music and horror. These elements are all there but they don't really come together. The best part of the film is the first hour where the brothers are setting up their club.

And then a vampire plot is introduced seemingly at random with the lamest and least frightening vampires ever seen on screen.

The opening narration seems to promise a deep dive into African lore and a confrontation with the Devil himself.

But it's just another standard vampire flick and not a good one at that. It's been done before and better in for example From Dusk Til Dawn.

The racial elements are badly handled with some klansmen just thrown in, it didn't seem to address racism in any meaningful way at all.

Also the cinematography is very dark, to the extent that I thought there was something wrong with my TV. But no. You can hardly see some of the action.

A wasted opportunity and a disappointment.

I will say however that the final scene is pretty good and I wish the film had been more like that.

So, if you're into seeing Willem Dafoe moving some furniture around and mumbling for two hours, this is for you. Otherwise, avoid.

This is a nice, if not particularly original, idea, of a 'cursed' film, which, if you watch it - YOU WILL DIE!

Unfortunately it doesn't quite come off. The modern-day framing sequences really talk up the cursed nature of the infamous film, and then we - gasp! - get to see it, with a stark warning beforehand that you do so at your own risk.

However, having watched it, I didn't die, so I don't think the film was cursed at all, really. However, had I died, I would not have been able to write this review.

The film within a film, 'Antrum', supposedly filmed in the 70s, is nicely done and the retro feel is perfect, but the problem is... it's not scary. Not even a little bit. And it's totally confusing what's going on. And the stuffed squirrel and 'cannibals' are just hilarious.

I wanted to be enveloped in a miasma of dread like you get watching, for example, Von Trier's Antichrist, which I almost stopped watching half-way through, such was the all-enveloping atmosphere of evil of that particular film. But this just enveloped me in a miasma of... nonplussed boredom.

Well... erm... that was original, to say the least! It's a horror film, so from the off you can sort of guess what it's about from the title (cuckoo in the nest), and yes, that IS what it is about - but not in the way you expect.

Hunter Schafer plays Gretchen, a teen who accompanies her dad, his new wife and her sister to a resort town in the Bavarian Alps, presided over by Dr Konig (Dan Stevens - a genre stalwart from such fllms as The Guest, Colossal and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire). It's immediately obvious that 'Something's Off' and the mystery is well developed with strange noises from the woods, women unexpectedly throwing up, the sister (who is mute) having seizures and Gretchen being chased on her bike by a strange hooded woman.

This part of the movie is excellent and I was enthralled - but when it's all explained it all falls to pieces with so many unanswered questions. Weirdly, both too much and not enough is explained - we find out what's behind the strange happenings but not how the current situation at the resort came to be. How did Dr Konig and his cronies come to - well, spoilers! It all descends into action movie cliches with guns everywhere, disappointing. The story is good enough, the concept so original, that a better movie could have been made of it, a more sinister Wicker Man style affair. As it is the creepiness of the first hour is completely blown away - quite literally, with big guns.

And Gretchen is such a dislikeable character, that I could not engage with her plight at all. She's sulky, self-absorbed and selfish, and her hairstyle rather unfortunately reminded me of Harry Enfield's Kevin the Teenager character.

A shame - because at times this is wonderfully eerie and the concept behind it is unique and bonkers - but it didn't quite work for me.

Ignore that other review. In no way is this film 'misandrist' you might as well say the same of Psycho or Taxi Driver.

Instead this a study of two very damaged people who descend into complete insanity.

Rebecca Hall plays the survivor of Tim Roth's character's abuse and what he did to her, explained in a seven-minute monologue to camera, is beyond horrendous.

Hall's descent into madness is painful, horrifying and sad to watch. Yes she is selfish and unpleasant. Because of what happened to her.

No spoilers, but there's something that gives Roth's character a hold over her and this develops into a somewhat predictable, extremely gory, and morbidly horrifying conclusion that many have taken literally, but is clearly the end result of Hall's insanity.

One of the most genuinely unsettling horror films I have ever seen and I have seen a lot!

This is an excellent and absorbing thriller, beautifully shot, well played and engrossing.

"Relentless edge-of-your-seat suspense, jaw-dropping, high-octane action" is absolutely what it is not!

I don't know how anyone seeing this film could come up with that description. There is action, and it is very well done, and there is suspense, also well done. But don't expect Mad Max or something.

That said I would recommend this - just ignore that review!