The Devil Below
3.5 star(s), 88 minutes, streaming
Imagine if John Carpenter had directed “C.H.U.D.” from a script co-written by Neil Marshall, and that should be enough to whet your appetite for the goodness in store with “The Devil Below.”
Typically, the big news here would be that “The Devil Below” represents a giant leap forward in both craftsmanship and visual effects work by director Bradley Parker, particularly since his first feature, 2012’s “Chernobyl Diaries,” was less than stellar (in my opinion). But “The Devil Below” exceeds even the most conservative expectations. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that Parker’s film is the closest we’ve gotten to a proper Carpenter film since 1994’s “In the Mouth of Madness.”
The story is simple, but not simplistic. A group of friends venture deep into the Appalachian Mountains in search of an urban legend, the lost town of Shookum Hills, which was reportedly abandoned following a massive fire in the enclave’s coal mine. Of course, there’s more to the legend. A lot more. And maybe not everyone fled Shookum Hills. Maybe some stayed out of a sense of responsibility and purpose, to protect the outside world from the truth lurking deep down in the mine shafts. The characters are solid, and actually have some surprising depth, more so than what horror fans might expect from a creature feature.
But what matters more is the film’s propulsive energy. It doesn’t waste any time. It doesn’t meander. It rockets along until the third act when Parker goes on a batshit-crazy descent into madness starting at about the one-hour mark. There are shades of “The Descent,” an homage to “Nightbreed,” even a tip of the hat to “Aliens.”
And while “The Devil Below” might not reach the fevered heights and nerve-shredding tension of those all-time classics, it does a damn good job distinguishing itself as a must-see marquee title.
The Stylist
3.5 star(s), 105 minutes, streaming
Not for nothing, Jill Gevargizian’s “The Stylist” may be one of the most unsettling, uncomfortable viewing experiences you’ve had in quite some time, in large part due to a masterful turn by Najarra Townsend in the titular role.
Townsend, who wowed horror fans with her fearless performance in 2013’s exceptional “Contracted,” plays Claire, a painfully awkward introvert, who finds herself becoming obsessed with the picture-perfect lives of her salon clients, so much so that she routinely drugs them, scalps them and keeps their hair (skull cap and all) on display in her secret space to try on as she fantasizes becoming them.
As serial killer thrillers go, Gevargizian, who co-wrote the script based on her own short film from 2016, keeps viewers guessing even as Claire quickly spirals out of control once she’s tapped by Olivia (Brea Grant) to style her bridal party. With a healthy balance of gore and social commentary, “The Stylist” is one of those movies that sneaks up on you and refuses to let go.
Dementer
3 star(s), 80 minutes, streaming
Speaking of unsettling, look no further than the sophomore feature from writer-director Chad Crawford Kinkle, whose “Dementer” marks a fantastic return seven years after his debut, “Jug Face.”
Katie (Katie Groshong) is trying to put her life back together after escaping a dangerous cult led by the enigmatic Larry (genre icon Larry Fessenden), but she can’t shake the visions that torment her even after finding work as a caregiver at a rural special-needs adult group home. Kinkle does a marvelous job creating and sustaining a sense of impending dread and doom as Katie slowly spirals deeper into the dark truths that she tried to lock away. He shows viewers the insidious ways that someone like Larry can attach themselves to vulnerable people and quietly overwrite their fragile psyches, overwhelming their ability to discern between right and wrong and good and evil, until they become puppets even when they believe themselves to be free.
Crazy Samurai 400 vs. 1
3 star(s), 91 minutes, streaming and Blu-Ray
There’s been a ton of buzz around director Yûji Shimomura’s “Crazy Samurai 400 vs. 1,” in large part because of the no-edit, single-shot, 77-minute sword battle that makes up the bulk of the film’s run time. And, yes, it’s pretty fucking amazing not only to watch but to consider the degree of planning, staging and execution that goes into creating something that looks so seamless and organic.
That’s the good news.
The downside to the hype, if there is one, is that even a single-shot epic sword battle can become monotonous and exhausting, if only because Shimomura eschews any over-the-top flourishes, choosing to keep the extended fight firmly rooted in realism.
Fans of wild action epics like “John Wick” and “The Raid: Redemption” may find themselves longing for a WOW moment, or a crazy unexpected burst of aerial acrobatics, or even a few gore-drenched arterial sprays from a severed limb or head. Sadly, there are none. In fact, there’s very little blood at all in “Crazy Samurai 400 vs. 1,” which is sure to surprise many viewers.
As an exercise in filmmaking prowess, Shimomura plants his flag and basically dares other directors to do it better. As an unhinged celebration of calamity and carnage, however, it falls short of being an all-time great.
Fatale
2.5 star(s), 102 minutes, streaming and Blu-Ray
When I interviewed writer-director Deon Taylor in May 2018 for the release of “Traffik,” I was struck by his steadfast determination to improve minority representation in mainstream Hollywood movies.
A prolific filmmaker, Taylor has made three feature films since, including 2019’s “The Intruder” and “Black and Blue,” and I can confidently say that “Fatale” is far and away his best film to date. Sadly, that declaration still comes with a caveat.
For all his best intentions, Taylor is still making movies that essentially supplant Black characters for white characters without focusing on the core building blocks that make for a superior genre film. Yes, it’s commendable to see a director who understands that it should no longer seem novel that a Black family can be affluent, wildly successful and fundamentally flawed without resorting to outdated stereotypes. But until he can craft a better, more original story to put those characters in, even the best of intentions still fall flat.
“Fatale” is basically “Fatal Attraction” if Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) was a police detective assigned to investigate a crime involving Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) after their illicit tryst. In Taylor’s film, Val Quinlan (Hillary Swank) meets Derrick Tyler (Michael Ealy) in Las Vegas when Derrick attends a bachelor party for a close friend. They get drunk, screw and then Derrick tries to let what happened in Vegas stay there as he returns home to his wife, Tracie (Damaris Lewis). One violent home invasion later, however, and suddenly Val is at Derrick’s posh mansion, making him squirm with sly innuendos and overt observations as she investigates the crime, despite the obvious conflict of interest.
Before long, viewers learn that Val is basically a white she-devil with mental illness who lost custody of her child to her scheming ex, a high-profile elected official, and who sees Derrick as a perfect patsy to reclaiming what’s rightfully hers.
“Fatale” is ridiculous and over-the-top, which is exactly what a genre thriller should be. It’s also surprisingly dark in tone; however, Taylor resists every opportunity to show not tell viewers just how crazy Val can be. It’s also problematic in that Taylor seems unwilling to lay fair share of blame on Derrick if only to keep him sympathetic to viewers, which means that “Fatale,” much like “Fatal Attraction,” lets its male lothario off the hook at the end.
Chaos Walking
2 star(s), 109 minutes, streaming
“Chaos Walking” opens with a quote: “The noise is a man’s thoughts unfiltered and without a filter a man is just chaos walking.”
It’s not a quote by anyone famous. It’s attributed to a settler of the New World, meaning not Earth, circa 2257 A.D., after colonists have arrived on a distant planet that looks suspiciously like Earth, minus the odd affliction this planet’s atmosphere has on anyone with a penis.
The “noise” that the quote alludes to is basically any and every thought, no matter how vile, juvenile or naïve, that emanates from male minds once they set foot on the new planet. Such thoughts aren’t contained to their minds, though. They float into the air in bursts of crackling static and imagery, meaning anyone close by can both see and hear the noise. Some males, though it’s not really properly explained, can harness their noise to create thoughts that manifest into a mental projection like a giant snake or a fortified cage. And, of course, this strange circumstance does not include women, which immediately makes anyone with a vagina highly suspect and potentially dangerous because no man can discern what she’s thinking.
“Chaos Walking” is high-concept, but deeply flawed. It should be a much better movie, or at the least, much more entertaining, given it’s directed by Doug Liman and stars Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley and Mads Mikkelsen.
Curse of the Blind Dead
2 star(s), 87 minutes, streaming
God bless the Italians, who continue to crank out crazy horror movies like “Curse of the Blind Dead,” which somehow manages to mash together the Knights Templar, zombies, the apocalypse and the ritualistic sacrifice of newborn infants. If only all those disparate influences played better together, “Curse of the Blind Dead” would be a helluva midnight movie to recommend to your friends as the epitome of cult cinema.
The Pond
2 star(s), 96 minutes, streaming
Peter Pasic’s quietly eerie ode to folk horror, “The Pond,” knows its target audience. Catering to fans of slow-burn terror, “The Pond” takes plenty of cues from folk-y terror standouts like “The Wicker Man” and “Midsommar,” but its languid pace and its steadfast refusal to deliver one or more memorable scares keep Pasic’s vision from truly capturing the imagination of his viewers.
Regardless of what you might have thought of Ari Aster’s “Midsommar,” you can’t deny that several scenes stuck in your head despite the film’s long runtime and methodical pacing.
Coming 2 America
1 star(s), 110 minutes, Amazon Prime
Few actors have experienced the soaring heights and crushing lows of celebrity like Eddie Murphy.
Every time his career seems poised to reignite, much like in 2019 with the release of “Dolemite Is My Name,” there’s inevitably an ill-advised, poorly-formed vanity project like “Coming 2 America” just waiting in the wings to completely blow up any talk of artistic redemption or return to comedic form.
And make no mistake, the sequel to 1988’s “Coming to America,” one of Murphy’s biggest hits, is an absolute shitshow that never should have been made. It’s wholly, painfully, inexcusably un-funny, not to mention offensively un-original.
Whereas the original introduced fans to iconic catchphrases that still resonate today — go on, conduct a random office poll and see how many people immediately know Sexual Chocolate or Soul Glo — this sequel brings nothing to the table. Not one goddamned thing. Instead, director Craig Brewer, who has worked steadily since his 2005 breakout, “Hustle & Flow,” despite the quality of his work steadily plummeting ever since 2006’s “Black Snake Moan,” simply trots out as many call-backs to the original as he can possibly stuff into this interminable morass of bad ideas.
Avoid at all costs.
Horizon Line
1 star(s), 92 minutes, streaming and Blu-Ray
Survival thrillers live or die based on three criteria: The central character or characters, the shit-your-pants circumstances threatening those characters, and how their narrative ultimately wraps up. It’s why a movie like “The Shallows,” which is basically Blake Lively on a rock against a shark, can shred nerves whereas “ATM,” which is basically one person trapped in a banking tube against a killer, can feel like an overdose of melatonin.
“Horizon Line” gets the shit-your-pants part right when the pilot of the small prop plane carrying Allison Williams (“Get Out”) and her ex has a heart attack. And Williams’ character is forced to try and navigate the plane to safely before it runs out of fuel over the ocean. Everything else, however, including the upbeat ending, rings false.
The Canyonlands
1 star(s), 99 minutes, streaming
The keys to making a successful slasher movie should be almost canon by now, yet first-time writer-directors like Brendan Devane still overlook basic building blocks, like crafting an intelligent story that easily explains to the audience what is happening.
“The Canyonlands” is a movie about a nature guide in Utah, Lauren (Stephanie Barkley), returning to work following a really bad rafting experience (which Devane never fully explains), who is tormented by visions of an ancient Native American ritual and a crazed pickaxe-wielding miner.
If nothing else, Devane gets legitimate props for his masterful use of location. The canyons and scenic vistas of Utah’s wide-open expanse are almost like nature pornography. If only the kills, and better yet, the story driving his debut feature were half as hypnotic.
Also Available as of March 5
She’s the Man This classic high-school comedy is available on Blu-Ray for the first time.
The Croods: A New Age The sequel to the prehistoric animated hit has arrived on home media.
Laugh-In: The Complete Series The long-running sketch comedy show, which aired from 1968 to 1973, is now available in an impressive 38-disc DVD boxed set from Time Life.
Inside Amy Schumer: The Complete Series Regardless of how you feel about her film career to date, there’s no denying Amy Schumer is funny. Relive the laughs in this collection.
400 Bullets This new action-fest, now streaming from Shout! Studios, should satisfy all cravings for hand-to-hand combat.
Undertow Now available to stream, Miranda Nation’s fantastic relationship thriller, “Undertow,” is a hypnotic experience that dissects love, regret and the lies we tell ourselves and others to survive.
John W. Allman has spent more than 25 years as a professional journalist and writer, but he’s loved movies his entire life. Good movies, awful movies, movies that are so gloriously bad you can’t help but champion them. Since 2009, he has cultivated a review column and now a website dedicated to the genre films that often get overlooked and interviews with cult cinema favorites like George A. Romero, Bruce Campbell and Dee Wallace. Contact him at Blood Violence and Babes.com, on Facebook @BloodViolenceBabes or on Twitter @BVB_reviews.
Support local journalism in these crazy days. Our small but mighty team is working tirelessly to bring you up to the minute news on how Coronavirus is affecting Tampa and surrounding areas. Please consider making a one time or monthly donation to help support our staff. Every little bit helps.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter.
This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2021.
