Coherence tells us that the evil version of ourselves we’re so afraid of, is us. This is a movie that walks across several genre lines including suspense, thriller, mystery, and science fiction to tell a story that is both 
highly relatable and at the same time thoroughly confusing. Playing on our fears of other versions of ourselves (which we assume must be the evil versions, see every sci-fi alternate reality movie/t.v. show ever made), Coherence forces us to confront the idea that maybe we aren’t the good version of ourselves after all, and in fact may be the evil one. Or maybe there is no evil one. Coherence lives somewhere in the dark spaces between science fiction mystery alter and sci-fi horror/suspense, much like the dark spaces between houses in the movie, you get the roulette wheel with the watching of it. – 4/5 (Genre) Continue reading
Thriller
Lavender
In t
he end, Lavender is a suspense driven almost first person story with a great deal of mystery and frankly confusion. The fragmented story telling that accompanies the way Jane thinks and views the world both enhances and detracts from the experience at the same time. The acting by all with the exception of Diego Klattenhoff (Alan) is solid and just felt like it belonged. I was disappointed in the lack of more for Alice’s character and what she could have been, but the ending more than made up for that, leaving me feeling like sitting all tensed up for an hour and a half was well worth it for the satisfaction we get along with Jane. Well worth a watch for fans of horror, mystery, suspense, and many other genres that get mixed in, with nice results. – 4.1/5 – Genre
The Silenced
The Silenced is a complex horror/suspense/drama that unfolds in one of the more unique ways I’ve seen in a long time. It interlaces multiple story threads, much like the threads in the quilt that the girls of the school were making; lot’s of rising and falling of different stories that collide with each other at some point in the movie, forming the final tapestry we see in the end. If you can avoid being off put by this, and the extreme hamming it up of the adult actors, you’ll find a beautiful acted (the girls), deeply moving, and unique retelling of a story we’ve seen before, but which feels completely fresh and new. There are some great horror-type scenes, but the friendship between Ju-ran and Yeon-deok is by far the most compelling aspect of the movie, and the final minutes with these two make the entire movie worth watching. – 4/5 (genre) Continue reading
The Unborn
“The Unborn is a fairly standard horror movie that doesn’t do a good job of connecting us to it’s characters, or making us feel like we should care. The plot is common place possession/exorcism with a pretty predictable type of ending…Where it succeeds is in the originality of having a possession story not based in Christian mythology, a semi-diverse core cast that isn’t just slaughter fodder, and the monster mash up from other movies. The combination of these things makes The Unborn worth watching even if it isn’t that great a movie overall. The recurring…creepstyx Pit bull wearing a mask will elicit some bad day dreams at the very least. Though I’m sure the Silent Hill and The Grudge type creatures will catch everyone else’s attention.” – 2.5/5 (genre) Continue reading
Paradox
“Paradox really shines in the moments when it isn’t spouting ridiculous dialogue, coated with pseudo-science and large volumes of expletives. It is a fun ride trying to figure out who the killer is, why they are killing everyone and how this whole mess got set into motion. Where Paradox fails is that it [did have] it’s characters talk. Honestly, every 30 seconds someone was saying something…ridiculously asinine. [However], if you like science fiction, time travel, action and suspense rolled up with mystery, give Paradox a go. Just don’t hold you’re breath waiting for the paradox.” – 2.3/5 (genre) Continue reading
The Seasoning House (Review)
“there is a rather intense and almost horrifying moment when Angel is incredibly brutal, but all of it is muted to her (and by extension to us) because she is deaf. It creates a peculiar feeling of detachment from the brutality of the act, as if she is not actually doing it herself but watching someone else.” – 4.25/5
Continue reading
Anna (Mindscape)
“I’m not a sociopa
th. Just smart enough to think like one.” – Anna Greene
Anna is a psychological thriller/mystery/science fiction (sort of) movie that unfortunately never quite remembers it’s supposed to be any of these things. It takes us along for a decent ride that ultimately never quite goes anywhere.
Anna takes place in a world (near future/alternate timeline) where there are people who are “viewers”. These people such as John Washington (Mark Strong) can enter into other people’s memories and “view” them as they occur. Continue reading
Kristy (redux)
To get started, my post from last week on FB, hence the brevity. Some additions.
I’ll be a little more brief about the movie Kristy than I have been about others. For the most part it’s pretty typical fare for it’s genre. Think The Strangers. There are some deeper (for horror) elements to the movie that can’t really be explored due to the rather rigid adherence to the horror/thriller mold. Continue reading
Shiguo's Myth 
You must be logged in to post a comment.