The Witches (2020) Review

Based on The Witches by Roald Dahl, produced by Guillermo del Toro, director Robert Zemeckis take is surprisingly entertaining. It’s pacer and far more polished than Nicolas Roeg’s charming version in which Anjelica Huston shinned.

As with its 1990 version, it’s far too disturbing for young children but edgy enough to captivate older children, teens and adults. The CGI may not be perfect, but voice performances are on point, including Kristin Chenoweth. Stanley Tucci’s hotel manager, Mr. Stringer is memorable, if underused. Along with Octavia Spencer’s Grandma, Anne Hathaway’s Grand High Witch performance is outstanding.

Overall, Zemeckis offers a touching great take on a classic tale.

Fear City (1984) Review

Two men who have a hand in the local adult entertainment scene try to stop a killer is who targeting New York City strippers before the cops.

Director Abel Ferrara’s offering echoes Rocky’s paid muscle enforcer, this part mobster, martial arts murder flick is a seedy time capsule of 1984. The shake down scenes work well and it benefits from an on location city night feel. It reflects in bite size the underbelly of the New York city of the early 80s including drugs, strip joints, sexism and organised crime to name a few.

Fears City despite some lapses in logic holds together entertaining well as an 80’s drama thriller, however, some outlandish fight moments especially boxer versus Martial Arts (popular at the time) showdown robs Fear City of longevity and previous good acting especially from bitty ex-vice turned homicide cop Billy Dee Williams. It shoe horns popular themes of the time, gangsters, slashers, boxing, Martial arts, and thrillers, a little too many for Ferrara to juggle successfully.

Young Tom Berenger, a boxer with a troubled past is good but actor Jack Scalia shines. Berenger’s on off love interest Melanie Griffith has plenty of flesh on display and plays the high class exotic dancer, drug addict convincingly. Familiar faces including Godfather Part II Michael V. Gazzo, Rae Dawn Chong and María Conchita Alonso appear.

If exotic dancers, martial arts, knife attacks and punches is your thing this quick pacing and hard-edged setting is one to watch.

Hubie Halloween (2020) Review

Devoted community volunteer and the good-natured but mocked by his townsfolk citizen Hubie, finds himself in the midst of a real investigation on Halloween.

Hubie Halloween is well paced, perfectly toned, offers chuckles and a real anti-bullying message too. With the vibe of Goosebumps and nods to Halloween a Friday the 13th, director
Steven Brill’s offering does for Halloween what ELF did for Christmas (only on a Netflix budget).

Adam Sandler’s goofy antics as Hubie Dubois are a real welcomed treat, it’s one of his better Water-boy type roles and certainly a highlight of his produced for Netflix stints. Writers Tim Herlihy and Carter Gray for the most part inject some sharp humorous dialogue, one liners and most of all heart into the story.

Actors Ray Liotta and Rob Schneider in small roles are good fun but wacky Steve Buscemi’s Walter Lambert wolf man steals the show as do good Hubie tries to solve the mystery of what or who is making the locals disappear. Kevin James’ Sgt. Steve Downey gives his Mall Cop role a run for its money. Shaquille O’Neal cameos in weird oddball DJ role. Likeable Julie Bowen as Violet Valentine Hubie’s crush and supporting cast especially the children are on point.

One of the most memorable feel good Halloween films that you’ll want to revisit at the spooky time of year.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (TV Series 2020-) Review

Following the adventures of the backbone crew of a Starship…

Those expecting Lower Decks to echo 1973’s Star Trek the animated series may be left feeling like Gene Roddenberry Holodeck ghost. In terms of tone this animated vision of Star Trek is reminiscent of The Orville, Futurama with a mix of Rick and Morty. It’s sharp, fast paced and above all entertaining.

Thankfully, with plenty of in-jokes it never leaves the Star Trek universe, firmly set in the world of Star Trek TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager etc. showing that if anyone can and should be parodying Star Trek it’s, er, Star Trek. Lower Decks is wacky, funny, refreshing and outlandish.

With a cast of excellent voice actors the characters are humorously and likably brought to life and for obvious reasons Tawny Newsome’s Mariner is a surefire instant fan favourite. Notable are Jerry O’Connell as Freeman and Noël Well’s Tendi to name a few.

While no doubt many fans prefer a live action serious series and rightly so, but so long as they are running this wonderful animated incarnation in conjunction with the usual traditional style series this is Praxis shockwave gold.

Overall, once you buy into the style, it’s plain Starship sailing, recommend.

The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV Mini-Series 2020) Review

A young lady is hired by a man to look after his niece and nephew at the family country house with a haunted past and things go bump in the night.

Mary Poppins-like accents aside, Haunting of Bly Manor is as well filmed and for the most part as gothic as its predecessor, that said it’s also a splendid muddle.

Following the theme of Henry James’ (who did not write literary stereotypical ghosts) 1898 horror novella ‘Turn of the Screw’, Quints story update ironically maybe the weakest part of this adaptation. Incidentally, recently it has also been adapted as the 2020 movie The Turning. It’s main issue is that it’s derivative of the recent American Horror Story: Hotel with characters who die become stuck in that location. Also Quint’s motivation echoes the story of the Sally McKenn character. It borrows from the Tower of Terror, In a Dark Place, The Others, Haunted to name a few, injecting countless film tropes. Which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for is its painful pace without the character development to arguably justify its running time and clumsy story twists. Nevertheless, the sets and locations are fascinating, perfectly filmed adding a immersive eerie atmosphere to the proceedings.

In addition, the LGBT character are given odd background stories instead of just being their sexuality (similar to the recent Batwoman series), as if characters need some traumatic event to change them. That said, accents aside the acting at times is sterling especially from T’Nia Miller, Amelia Eve, Rahul Kohli the subtle housekeeper, chef and friendly gardener respectively. Victoria Pedretti is consistent but is for the most part in a state of shock or panic, Henry Thomas dose his best, even if a little too young for the role. Thomas’ shoehorned scenes with his doppelgänger are memorable. Aged male-up Carla Gugino is on her usual fine form. Tahirah Sharif is particularly notable but the story dictates her minimum screen-time.

The flashback sequence in “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes”, episode 8, directed by Axelle Carolyn (Halloween Tree director, wife of Neil Marshall director of Dog Soldiers and Game of Thrones) is by far the most intriguing, actors Catherine Parker and especially Kate Siegel are both outstanding here.

Overall, it’s a hit but mainly miss affair and while the old ghost story is welcomed, it’s simply disjointed in its execution and pacing especially when compared to The Haunting of Hill House.

2067 (2020) Review

Ethan Whyte, a tunnel worker, journeys through time to save the world when.

Director writer Seth Larney’s 2067 is slow burning impressive Australian science fiction mystery. The set pieces reminiscent of Blade Runner are impressive along with some great special effects. The acting is strong, Kodi Smit-McPhee is an interesting choice to carry the film but it’s Ryan Kwanten, clearly of leading man caliber, who steals the show oozing screen presence. However, Deborah Mailman is sorely miscast in a pivotal role.

It innovatively uses it budget, recycling the same location throughout time in keeping with the story. Again, when it’s echoing the cyberpunk vibes it’s breathtaking but these are few and far between. 2067 is impressive from a technical standpoint and while it has its own legs the twist you’ve waited for throughout isn’t as surprising or complex as the likes of Predestination, Time Crimes, Moon or the recent Archive. Nevertheless, Larney’s script has plenty to say about the world’s environmental issues especially climate change and scattered emotional moments.

Possibly 2067 only sin is the advertising marketing campaign dubbed it, “The best time travel movie since Avengers: Endgame”, given said films flaws it’s not a good comparison for Larney’s sterling effort. As with the likes of Automata, The Machine, it is a great addition to the sci-fi genre and doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t, recommend.

The Paranormal Needs You

Thanks to you Skeletons in their Closets is creeping up the charts! Let’s get it to number 1 for Halloween… Order here

If you are a Amazon Prime customer and have Kindle Unlimited, download Skeletons in their Closets for free today and read later.

Order here question your beliefs, engross yourself in the world of murder, mediums, traumatic PTSD, private investigators and more!

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020) Review

Two years after the events of the first film, the satanic cult return to finish what they started and try to kill Cole again.

Although not the heights of his Terminator Salvation outing Mc G returns to form with sequel to The Babysitter, Killer Queen after the ill conceived toned Rim of the World.

Likeable lead Judah Lewis and many of the cast return for more gross out gore shenanigans. MC G The Babysitter: Killer Queen offers more blood, comedy and mayhem, more importantly more world building satanic twists. It moves along in a brisk pace, echoing an outlandish 80s slasher cash-in sequel.

The supporting demon cast return and are are on same fine form as the first outing, delivering a backbone of humour, especially one liners. Despite actress Samara Weaving giving off a vibe she’s been dragged back for this with a fleeting follow up appearance, her Bee role is pivotal. Hopefully she’ll turn up for a third. That said, Emily Alyn Lind returning as Melanie more than fills the gap throughout and along with Lewis shoulders the film. Jenna Ortega’s Phoebe is a welcomed addition to this fun horror adventure.

Overall, Killer Queen does what it says on the tin, one of the better Netflix productions, if you like the genre.

Skeletons in their Closets OUT NOW!

In time for Halloween!

Skeletons in their Closets is out now on paperback and Kindle.

Click here to order

It’s totally free on Kindle Unlimited! Download today and read later.

With Covid restrictions it’s difficult to generate some excitement and interest. Word of mouth still rules, so I’d be grateful if you ghosts and ghouls could spread the word, share the scare via social media even by telepathy or a seance.

From the Blurb:

Sometimes the paranormal is in the mind, sometimes it is real…

When ex-serviceman turned private investigator John Sartori is hired to track down a suspected killer the trail leads him across America back to his birth place in the United Kingdom.

Telling fact from fiction had always been easy for Sartori but after a health scare he becomes haunted by the unexplained, phantoms that test his sanity. When his list of suspects also begin to experience horrors, he questions if being hired was not a mere coincidence.

Sartori always held that ghosts were make believe. However, make believe can be deadly especially with a troubled past.