FRIGHT FEST: TRAP

 In Trap, Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett), buys his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) tickets to a concert for her favorite artist, Lady Raven (Saleka Syhamalan). While there, Cooper notices an upped police presence and soon realizes that the whole thing is an elaborate trap set to snare a savage serial killer named The Butcher. Things are looking rough for Cooper, especially since he is actually the very serial killer the authorities are trying to catch. 

A simple, tight, mostly straightforward thriller (Don’t expect any twists). Josh Hartnett easily carries the proceedings and is the focus for about 90-95% of the film. His Connor/The Butcher is the most likable/charismatic sociopath since Dan Steven’s David in The Guest. Hartnett does a superb acting job, and makes Shyamalan’s occasionally silly dialogue sound authentic and natural. It doesn’t hurt that Hartnett has some serious DILF vibes throughout. He also has believable and sweet chemistry with Ariel Donoghue, who plays his daughter Riley (she’s adorable). Simply put: He’s phenomenal.

Shyamalan manages to perfectly capture the atmosphere of a live concert. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom is in charge of cinematography. He recently shot Challengers. He doesn’t do anything special or innovative here (the cinematography doesn’t really call attention to itself), but Trap is always visually appealing. The first 2/3rds of the third act has another character take center stage, and it’s here where Trap really starts to flounder. Luckily, the last 10-15 minutes manages to end the flick on a pretty satisfying note.

Allison Pill has a small role, but makes her screen-time count. Hayley Mills is memorable as Dr. Grant, the FBI profiler leading the manhunt. She’s great, but is fairly under-cooked. It feels like she should have been a bigger character. Jonathan Langdon is very likable in a supporting role as Jamie, a concert worker who befriends Cooper. Kid Cudi also has a cameo as The Thinker, another artist who performs with Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) and has a big ego. He is a real jerk, but Cudi leaves an impression (and is almost unrecognizable).  As for Saleka Shyamalan as Lady Raven, well...she can certainly sing...her acting, though, leaves much to be desired. It doesn't help that Lady Raven is given no backstory or reason to be invested in the manhunt. We are also given no reason to care about her safety, either

Trap isn’t particularly great. It’s definitely a Shyamalan movie. That said, it’s still mostly solid and is a decent amount of fun. See it for Josh Hartnett, who is having a bit of a renaissance right now.

3 STARS

FRIGHT FEST: ALIEN: ROMULUS

 In Alien: Romulus, we follow a rag-tag group of penal colonists who dream of escaping to a better world and a better life. There’s our heroine Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeney), her android best-friend/brother Andy (David Jonson), the leader of the group/Rain's ex-beau Tyler (Archie Renaux), Tyler's cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn), Tyler's pregnant sister Kay (Isabela Merced), and Bjorn's girlfriend Navarro (Aileen Wu). 

When a derelict Weyland-Yutani research and development vessel blips onto their radar, the group decide the cryo sleep pods on board might be their ticket to paradise. Unfortunately, once they break in they inadvertently awaken the horrors lurking within the ship. The group’s new end goal: Survive.

Alien: Romulus is directed by Fede Alvarez (He also shares screenwriting credit with Rodo Sayagues, who previously helped write Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe). Romulus is Fede’s first horror film in eight years, and his first director credit in six years. It’s great to have him back in horror, even if Romulus isn’t his best horror film.

Romulus has a solid plot and decent enough character development. The screenplay is pretty good too, though there is a good deal of fan service. Some is subtle, some is hit you in the face with a mallet annoying. Luckily, when this film finds it’s groove, it can be really fun and really f’d up.

Benjamin Wallfisch scores Romulus, and does a phenomenal job. He borrows elements from Jerry Goldsmith’s score for Alien, but his work here never feels like a copy-and-paste job. It is it's own beautiful, freaky thing. Wallfisch continues to impress with his scores. Whenever I see his name pop up before a film, I get excited.

The production design (by Naaman Marshall), set design (Kinga Básci, Paul Chadeisson, Pablo Domínguez, Franciska Hutter, Lizzie Osborne, Helga Petro, Mary Pike, Col Price, Mauricio Ruiz, Kaitlyn Sandeman, Matthew Savage, Nick Stathe, Silvia Stroppa, Joshua Viers), creature design (Dane Hallett and Antony Nguyen), sound design (Lee Gilmore and Chris Terhune), and cinematography (Galo Olivares) are just about perfection. The cinematography in particular is consistently gorgeous and stunning. There is also one creature/Alien that is incredibly disturbing. He/She/It is pure nightmare fuel. Romulus doesn't rely on jump scares to frighten, instead leaning heavily on atmosphere, tone, and pure tension to get the job done. That said, the film does feature two top-tier jump scares.

Cailee Spaeney plays our lead, and consistently looks like a young Sigourney Weaver throughout. She’s given a decent amount of meat to chew on, but this isn’t her best or strongest role. That said, she still impresses. Archie Rénaux as Tyler is very likable and feels like a stabilizing force throughout. He is great in his role.

Spike Fearn as Bjorn plays a jerk very well. You aren’t necessarily supposed to like him, but I sure did. He has a real presence about him. He’s definitely a stand-out, memorable role. Isabela Merced might be the best she has ever been as Kay. She is a pretty strong woman who is easy to root for. She also has hands-down the most disturbing scene in the entire film.

David Jonsson might impress the most as Andy, a very human and very lovable obsolete android (Oh my God, I just got it. Andy…android.). He cares deeply about Rain and his primary objective starts out as doing whatever is best for her. Of course, he is an Android, so his loyalties are ultimately questionable. Jonsson does a great job at keeping us guessing as to if he is truly a good guy or not.

Jonsson is given a lot to work with as he has to play with some Autistic-esque qualities, he has to be icy/stony and cold, he has to play determined, and he also has to have a warmth or empathy to him too. Jonsson pulls it all off effortlessly. He really might be the best actor/role in the film, and his Andy reminds of a specific character from Fede’s Evil Dead (As far as his character progression/arc goes).

During the press tour for Romulus, Fede Alvarez boasted about his use of practical sets and practical effects, and indeed there is a lot of that here. Unfortunately, CGI is utilized (or looks like it’s utilized) a good deal too. There is CGI used for one character that is just PS4 cut-scene level bad, and some might be offended by the character in question (I imagine the words distasteful and disrespectful might be thrown around). That said, it's still good to see them included. Some of the sets seem to have a CGI gloss painted over them as well (not many, but I’d say at least two or three).

Fede is clearly a mega-fan of Alien. The pacing and structure for Romulus is heavily influenced by that film (It also is essentially a haunted house/ship, much like Alien was). That said, Romulus more often than not feels closer in tone to Aliens. There are plenty of tense, suspenseful, and scary scenes, but there is a clear emphasis on action a good deal (especially in the third act. I’d say the first two acts are Alien, the last act is Aliens). It’s also appreciated that Fede finds a way to make the events of Prometheus and Covenant important to what is happening in Romulus (I’d say more-so Prometheus than Covenant. Elements from Alien: Resurrection are lightly included as well).

Alien: Romulus does a lot right, it also slips up at times too, though. It tries to add emotional stakes so audiences can get invested in our leads and their plight, but your mileage may vary. Luckily, it is always cool and fun. The first 5 minutes and final ten minutes are incredible. Honestly, the last ten minutes might be the best part of the movie. 

Alien: Romulus tries/wants to be the perfect organism: a blending of Prometheus, Alien, and Aliens. Unfortunately, perfect this is not. Luckily, there are enough great scenes and moments that it earns a recommendation. It will definitely F you up. As is, it’s  the third best Alien movie.

4 STARS

FRIGHT FEST: ALIEN COVENANT

“Why are you on a colonization mission, Walter? Because they are a dying species grasping for resurrection. They don’t deserve to start again, and I’m not going to let them.”

“When one note is off, it eventually destroys the whole symphony, David.”

In Alien: Covenant, the crew of the Covenant vessel are searching for a good place to settle down, mate, and re-populate the human race. When they stumble upon what they call Planet 4, they find the planet inhabited by various different Proto-Morphs and David (Michael Fassbender), the android from Prometheus. David offers them assistance and refuge, but are his intentions truly altruistic, or are they maybe something a bit more sinister?

Alien: Covenant is a more technically competent film than Prometheus. The screenplay is better too, and the ideas presented are more fully explored. Tennessee (Danny McBride), Daniels (Katherine Waterston), Walter (Michael Fassbender), and David (Michael Fassbender) are the stand-out characters. Unfortunately, there is very little plot or forward momentum as most of the film exists to explore the David character.  The decisions made regarding him, while very interesting, ultimately fuck the entire canon of the Alien franchise. Another detriment is that most of the Aliens appear to be completely CGI creations.

Covenant is not a film Scott wanted to make, but fans revolted, demanding the sequel to Prometheus be closer to what came before. This is the result, and you can feel Scott’s resentment, anger, and disappointment throughout. 

Covenant is not a bad film, but it is at war with itself. It feels like there were at least one or two films that should have come before this. I can’t say that Covenant is entertaining, but it is interesting and has a few ideas worth exploring. Unfortunately, the best thing about it (David’s story) is also its fatal flaw.

3 STARS

FRIGHT FEST: A LOOK BACK AT PROMETHEUS

Wow, my opinion on this film has changed. I still like it well enough, but that’s mostly for its fascinating ideas that are never fully explored or fleshed out. Noomi Rapace is great, as is Guy Pearce, but Michael Fassbender’s David effortlessly steals the entire thing. 

The film is seriously hindered by taking short-cuts throughout (especially in the third act). The way it’s written (screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof) is bad, a lot of the dialogue is laughable or cringe, and most of the characters are really dumb and continually make stupid decisions. Much of the film is fairly cool, and the set designs are pretty good. The action and “horror” of the third act kind of feels unearned. 

Prometheus tries something new and fumbles, but it’s still an admirable attempt. Maybe with a better screenplay this could have been something. It honestly would have likely worked better as a 5-8 episode mini-series. Really give it time to flesh out its characters and more fully explore its multiple ideas.

3 STARS

FRIGHT FEST: ALIEN 3

 "This is rumor control. Here are the facts."

In Alien 3, The Sulaco (The vessel that Ripley, Newt, Hicks, and Bishop escaped on at the end of Aliens) crashes into the ocean of a planet when a rogue facehugger, that had managed to stow away on-board the vessel, wrecks havoc. Ripley, tragically, is the sole survivor of the crash. Rescued by Dr. Jonathan Clemens, Ripley discovers the planet is home to a Weyland-Yutani mining/prison facility occupied by religious zealot prisoners/workers.

Unfortunately for Ripley and the prisoners, the horrors she has fought so hard to escape or defeat have followed her. With little means to defend themselves or fight back against the looming threat, the battle is on to survive and hopefully finally end the intergalactic menace once and for all.

The Assembly Cut gets 3.5 stars. It's dark, morose, sad, tragic, and thrilling near the end. This third outing brings the Alien series back to its darker roots. The Alien franchise has always been bleak, cynical, and borderline nihilistic, so the tone found here feels fitting and appropriate for the conclusion of the franchise.

That said, This version is still not a perfect film. The biggest issues for me are the film runs at 1 hour 24 minutes and feels too long, most of the Alien VFX don't impress (same goes for most of the VFX), and there isn't much Xenomorph action. The film also tends to cut away from quite a few of the Xeno attacks (STOP IT!!!). Every time a suit is used, it's scary, effective and impressive. The puppet used for the Ox chest-burster is pretty cool too.

Alien 3: The Assembly Cut moves at a pretty slow pace. This edit re-inserts scenes fleshing out minor characters. Unfortunately, most every minor character still ends up feeling one-note and forgettable despite this version's efforts (except for Danny Webb's Robert Morse, who is really only memorable because he winds up being the sole survivor).

Charles Dance as Dr. Jonathan Clemens (a medical doctor who resides on the planet), Charles S. Dutton as Leonard Dillon (a former "murderer and rapist of women" who has found religion. He delivers some elegant speeches and almost resembles a preacher at times. Charles S. Dutton is honestly the MVP here), and Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley are all fantastic and memorable. Ralph Brown as Francis Aaron (one of the lower-ranking heads of the facility) gets enough screen-time that he is one of the more memorable side-characters.

I understand why many fans don't like Alien 3. There are character decisions regarding Newt, Hicks, Bishop, and Ripley that angered many. The only part that bothered me was the desecrating of Newt's corpse (at Ripley's behest). The funeral for Hicks and Newt is honestly very touching and sad, and had me tearing up hard. It's such a strong scene, that it makes me wish it wasn't juxtaposed with the Ox chest-burster. I get why they chose to do this (Death/birth), but having it framed in this way takes away from much of the emotion of the funeral. The decision to have Ripley die off at the end was a demand made by Sigourney Weaver herself, who had grown upset after 20th Century Fox had cut scenes from Aliens that would have fleshed out Ripley's backstory. Having Ripley die was the only way she would sign on to the film.

Alien 3 was plagued by many BTS troubles. These include numerous scripts being written then tossed out. The film's original director (Vincent Ward, who essentially came up the story for the film) left the production after 20th Century Fox demanded changes be made to the story. David Fincher would end up replacing him. The film's original cinematographer (Jordan Cronenweth) shooting for two weeks before having to stop due to Parkinsons. He would be replaced with Alex Thomson. Despite all these troubles, the film (or at least the Assembly Cut) doesn’t feel all that troubled.

The Assembly Cut was born out of a desire to make a Director's Cut. When David Fincher (who had basically disowned the film) refused to assist, 20th Century Fox looked to Fincher's editing room notes to help create a final product that might resemble something closer to what Fincher had envisioned. This is how The Assembly Cut was born.

When all is said and done, despite fans decrying Alien 3 as the worst of the franchise, Alien 3: The Assembly Cut is far from a bad film. It is flawed in some ways, and it makes many bold and decisive choices… but that doesn’t make it a bad movie. While it doesn’t explore its existential ideas quite as fully as it could, Alien 3: The Assembly Cut still attempts to right some of the ills of the Theatrical Version and is mostly successful. 

Alien 3: The Assembly Cut ends the franchise on a dark, dour note. That’s appropriate considering the Alien films have never been particularly happy or hopeful. It’s been thirty-two years since Alien 3 was released, and twenty-one years since The Assembly Cut was released. I say it’s time Alien 3 have a proper re-examination. It’s aged pretty well. Alien 3 is a flawed but fitting ending for Ellen Ripley, Weyland-Yutani, and those nasty Xenomorphs.

FRIGHT FEST: ALIEN

 What a beautiful, engrossing nightmare! Not just a film about blue-collar space truckers trying to survive “the perfect organism” that can not be killed, but also a film about how large, multi-national corporations see the worker ants they employ as nothing less than “expendable”. The direction by Sir Ridley Scott is impeccable. The pacing throughout is deliberate, slow, and perfect. Alien takes great pains to flesh-out its world and does everything it can to fully immerse viewers in it. 

The production design by Michael Seymour and set decoration by Ian Whittaker are elaborate, gorgeous, and exquisite.  The sets and designs for both the Nostromo and the Derelict are cinematically perfect, beautiful, and unforgettable. The costume design by John Mollo is a quite great . The cinematography by Derek Vanlint aids in the rich, thick atmosphere produced. 

The editing by Terry Rawlings and Peter Weatherley aids the film overall (especially in pacing). The screenplay by Dan O’Bannon is simple, but hides a good deal of depth within. The special effects by Nick Allder and Brian Johnson are terrifying, effective, and unforgettable. The score by Jerry Goldsmith is downright haunting and only adds to the atmosphere and mood of the film. 

The cast is aces all around, from the secretly sinister Ash played by Ian Holm to the rugged bad-ass Parker played by Yaphet Kotto to the struggling Captain who manages to keep his cool Dallas played by Tom Skerritt to the determined take-no-shit survivor Ripley played by Sigourney Weaver. Even Helen Horton as the voice of MU-TH-UR 6000 (Mother for short) is perfect and unforgettable. 

Alien could be described as a slow-paced, atmospheric, science-fiction horror film. The Nostromo could be described as a haunted house/ship in space. Alien continues to thrill, captivate, terrify, engulf, and immerse. 25 years later, Alien remains “the perfect organism”.

5 STARS

FRIGHT FEST: BLINK TWICE

In Blink Twice, event waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) is invited to a private island by billionaire CEO Slater King (Channing Tatum). Slater has been trying to make amends for a boundaries violation he made a few years back. He seems to be a fairly nice guy, so Frida decides to take him up on the offer. While partying with slater's rich and douche-y friends, Naomi slowly realizes she has missing time and soon realizes that all on the island might not be quite the way it seems.

It's ironic that a film about forgetting ends up being forgettable. The cast is stacked with talented actors, but every single person is given nothing to do and essentially zero character. It’s nice to see Channing Tatum play against type for a change, and he’s likely the best one here, but it’s not enough to save the film. Blink Twice has some fun with colors. There’s a good deal of yellow and a lot of reds (Red= Bad, Yellow= Good… basically).

While this wants to be a horror comedy, it’s rarely funny and never scary. It is incredibly dark and mean, though. It doesn’t have much to say that hasn’t been said in better films or in more interesting/novel/unique ways. The one kind-of new thing it brings to the table is the theme of forgetting vs forgiving. I also like that it deals with the question of if change is ever really possible. 

I commend Zöe Kravitz for trying her hand at directing and writing (with E.T. Feigenbaum credited as co-writer), but she just does not have the sauce. Nice try, though. Unfortunately, Blink Twice is dull and uninteresting. There are very few surprises here, and the opening trigger warning basically gives away the whole game before the film even starts. Forgetting is a gift, just be grateful this film isn’t one you’ll be likely to remember in T-minus a year (or less). Save your money and re-watch Promising Young Woman instead.

1.5 STARS