Like many Stephen King stories from the past 20 years, this feels like a remix of things he’s done before. Specifically, it’s reminiscent of ‘Children of the Corn’, ‘The Stand’ and ‘Desperation’. Twins Becky (Laysla De Oliveira) and Cal (Avery Whitted) are driving cross-country when they stop to assist someone lost inside a field of tall grass. You won’t be surprised to learn that doing so is a bad idea…

I often find it exciting when King reverts to a back-to-basics story. As fantastic as some of his bigger, more complex tales are, sometimes you just want to read something like ‘The Raft’, you know? In the Tall Grass is like that, though it always hints at something else, just seen off-camera. It’s a bit like Lovecraft’s work in that way – there’s something bigger than us in the universe, it’s been here much longer than us, and will be here long after we leave. And it does not care about us.

The setup is intriguing, even if it does rely on the twins making some dumb mistakes. And the moment new characters appear, we as the audience are immediately more suspicious than Becky and Cal. It’s like they’ve never read a Stephen King story before.

Natali does some really interesting stuff with VFX here, as he has done all throughout his career. The budget is decent enough, but I never forgot that we were almost always in a studio, especially when there was obvious sky replacement going on…

I was never bored, but the film could have ended at any time after the 45 minute mark. There are dozens of mini-climaxes that felt like endings, and when the actual ending arrived, my only response was “ehh, good enough. That makes sense.” There’s no narrative urgency, no real oomph. The film successfully shifts gears from first to second act…and then plateaus.

In the Tall Grass is a competent film, well made. But that’s about it. The only highlights are Natali’s visual flair and Patrick Wilson, who is making a habit of hitting it out of the park even when the film around him is rather silly (see also Aquaman).

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Apostle is set at the beginning of the 20th Century, and sees a drifter searching for his sister amongst a cult on an isolated island. So far, so Wicker Man (no, not that one). And here’s where that double-edged sword I mentioned comes in…

Aside from being a home for films studios ditched at the last minute (The Cloverfield Paradox, Annihilation), Netflix is also becoming nifty at greenlighting films that are quite reminiscent of other films we’ve seen before. Recently we had The Ritual, which sported a first act almost exactly the same as The Descent, and now we have Apostle which is more than a little bit like Robin Hardy’s 1973 classic.

And let me be clear: this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I like the fact that the streaming giant is giving us lower to mid-budget films that the Hollywood studios no longer have any interest in releasing. I just hope they’re not saying to filmmakers, “Can you give us a new film a bit like this other film, please?”

Which is a roundabout way of saying that Apostle is…decent enough. The first act is great fun, and our introduction to the creepy island and its weirdo inhabitants is very Lovecraft-esque. James Bond contender, Dan Stevens, is having fun in the lead role, whilst Michael Sheen is having a glorious time playing Prophet Malcolm. (Though when is Michael Sheen not having a glorious time?)

The production values look spiffy, the cinematography is great and the grisly stuff is certainly very grisly. The only problem is that the film does everything it needs to do in the first two acts. Which means the final section of the story is the least interesting. It doesn’t help that we, the audience, are privy to secrets before Stevens’ character is – especially when, 20 minutes later, he comes across something we’ve already seen. So we effectively get the same reveal twice – once for us and once for him.

I don’t know if this has to do with the fact that Netflix isn’t forcing filmmakers to keep their films brief (because they don’t need to worry about how many sessions can be shown in a day), or the fact that Gareth Evans is not just the writer and director of the film, but also the editor. Suffice to say that the first half of Apostle is much better than the second half.

At the end of the day, this is still a good piece of horror. Original? No. But it’s distinct enough to stand out amongst a lot of films getting made right now.

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Alten’s novel was optioned by Hollywood for $2.1 million before it was even published; it must have been seen to be a sure-fire winner. And yet it’s taken 20 years to reach the screen. You can find the history of its development online, but I’ll save you some time: most of the roadblocks were budget-related. At one stage, a studio opted to move ahead with Deep Blue Sea instead. (Ironically, Deep Blue Sea 2 was released the same year that The Meg finally made it to the big screen…)

The fact that director Jon Turteltaub was hired to skipper the film says a lot; he’s a safe pair of hands. Phenomenon, two National Treasures, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice…they’re all serviceable yet forgettable films. In fact, to find his most memorable work, you probably have to go back to 1993’s Cool Runnings.

The second key to finally getting the film adapted was involvement from the Chinese film industry. (This is unsurprising, considering how popular the 2012 Australian shark flick Bait was over there).

For those who don’t know, Meg concerns a prehistoric megalodon that’s been hiding deep in the Mariana Trench. Thought extinct for 2 million years, this particular toothy critter is 60 feet long yet, given half the chance, seems to enjoy eating humans the most. The plot is a shadow of that which appeared in the book. It has the same central character in Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) and the same general idea (big shark eats people) but that’s about it. Jonas’ ex-wife has gone from being a significant player to barely featuring (instead replaced by Li Bingbing’s Suyin) but the character interactions in Steve Alten’s book were mostly awful anyway, so I see it as an improvement. Jonas is also surrounded by an entertaining enough cast of characters (again, nothing like the book) though don’t expect to be stunned by any witty banter.

Rainn Wilson gets to act outside his comfort zone, whilst Cliff Curtis, Winston Chao, Ruby Rose, Robert Taylor, Page Kennedy, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Masi Oka all do what is required without breaking free of the lackluster script.

It may just be my knowledge of the budgeting woes that The Meg faced during 20 years of development, but the finished product feels like it cuts corners. There are very few extended set pieces. Usually the beast appears, eats things and then we move to the next scene. Once Steve Alten got to book 3, ‘Primal Waters’, he was quite skilled at creating exciting and ridiculous action scenes. This movie, however, seems in such a hurry to get through the expensive moments that it doesn’t even spend time properly setting them up.

The Meg exists in a weird middle zone. It’s not a piece of finely-tuned tension like Jaws or The Reef, but it’s not as willfully silly as Deep Blue Sea. As a consequence, all three of those movies are better. We’re not in Mega Shark or Sharknado territory, but this is a definite missed opportunity. There are glimpses – mere glimpses – of a fun action film here. If the dialogue had been sharper, or the action scenes more memorable, we would have had a decent stupid shark movie. Instead, we have a bland stupid shark movie.

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And guess what? Fallen Kingdom didn’t blow me away either…

Set three years after the last film, this definitely feels more like an episode in a franchise than ever before. It starts out suspiciously similar to The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) are convinced to go back to the island, where dinos roam the wild. But from the second act onwards, it becomes a slightly different film.

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea: Fallen Kingdom doesn’t take us anywhere new. But it’s more interesting than the first act would lead you to believe. At the very least, everyone’s stopped treating Claire like shit, and there are some fun supporting characters courtesy of Daniella Pineda and Justice Smith. Unfortunately, the film plays out as if there’s no time to spare. For an 128-minute movie, it – bizarrely – achieves very little.

There are a couple of action scenes that get the job done, but like the previous film, there are also several examples of wasted potential. One in particular featuring a slowly advancing lava flow could have been a brilliant exercise in comedy and tension. Instead, it’s edited within an inch of its life, such that it’s over in 25 seconds. And that’s a mistake that’s repeated over and over with Fallen Kingdom; the film isn’t given room to breathe. This is particularly galling considering the director is J.A. Bayona, director of 2007’s The Orphanage– an incredible film that knew when to take its time.

In terms of the meta plot, it’s disappointing that the franchise is moving forward so slowly. There are a couple of moments this film seemed to tease but never delivered. I get the feeling they will crop up in the next instalment, however…

I have no idea whether audiences will love this one as they did the previous, because apparently my thoughts on what makes a good or a bad JP sequel are different to others’. Fallen Kingdom is a perfectly serviceable film. It doesn’t have the awful elements of the previous entry, but neither does it soar to new heights.

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So season 2 starts with a bang…and never lets up. A horde of Titans is on their way to wall Rose, and Eren and the other scouts set out to meet their enemies head on. Except, this being Attack on Titan, it isn’t long before plot developments flip our understanding of the world upside-down.

I can only assume that Hajime Isayama is making this stuff up as he goes, because the narrative shocks frequently feel like writing challenges. It’s all so completely nuts, and the show doesn’t pause to spend too long on any of these revelations, instead moving onto the next gory plot point.

And boy, does the gore come thick and fast. The titans are as horrific as ever, and there’s some pretty amazing dismemberment on show. The action is incredible also, and it never fails to get your pulse racing during the battle scenes.

You want to know how else AoT s2 was catering specifically to me? They gave us a Sasha episode! That’s right, the potato-obsessed scout is the focus of possibly the best episode of the season, which gives her a decent backstory too. As much as we all love Mikasa – who, make no mistake, is amazing – I love that a character as offbeat as Sasha gets her time to shine.

The narrative of season 2 overall is strong…up to a point. When we get to episode 34, the pace suddenly grinds to a halt, and the dreaded labored exposition rears its head once more. It’s almost as if the make-it-up-as-you-go-along technique has run out of steam, and the writer felt explanations were in order. As such, the season crawls over the finish line. It’s frustrating because, as I said, the first eight episodes are pure, unadulterated fun.

It goes without saying that the Blu-ray presentation is excellent. This is top-shelf animation, and the action practically leaps from the screen. The audio is excellent, although we only get a 2.0 mix in Japanese (which is, naturally, the One True Way to consume anime!) There are also commentaries, interviews, a quiz, galleries…basically it’s like the early 2000s back when everyone was competing to see how many special features they could cram onto a disc…

Somewhat disappointing conclusion aside, this is a strong season. Anyone who was on the fence the first time around should give this one a go…

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Ari Aster’s film starts out strongly. Annie’s (Toni Collette) mother has died, and whilst she is mourning in her own way, she never really liked the woman. The script doesn’t even need to spell this out, considering Annie holds her hand near the deceased’s nose when she passes the open casket, just to make sure. A sense of dread hangs over the first act, and it’s incredible to think that I found myself rooting for Annie, even if we never see her happy (when a similar situation stopped me from properly enjoying The Babadook).

I shouldn’t be surprised that Collette knocks it out of the park, should I? We all know how brilliant she is, and how she’s particularly adept at horror (The Sixth Sense, Fright Night). Within the first ten minutes of Hereditary, the script calls for her to be reacting to something scary off screen, and she nails it. This is a film that asks her to plumb the depths of grief and terror, and she’s incredible to watch.

Poor Gabriel Byrne is less effective as her husband, Steve. The script asks very little of him, aside to react to Annie’s descent. It’s a shadow of his former performances. The kids, Alex Wolff and Milly Shapiro, excel. They get to be both proactive and reactive within the story, and play that combination of innocence and bratty-ness perfectly. The family drama aspect of the film is handled rather well.

The problem is that Hereditary can’t sustain the level of tension that’s so present in the opening act. For a start, it’s too long. At 127 minutes, it outstays its welcome. It also struggles to unravel its central mystery in a compelling fashion. By the time we got to the final act, there were sniggers in the audience, when the film was clearly still trying to shock us. It all gets a bit silly.

Visually speaking, the film is stunning. The cinematography makes particularly good use of the fact that Annie is an artist who constructs highly detailed dollhouses. These miniature depictions domesticity are of course reflected in the lives of the characters themselves. They are horrified by the familial echoes that lurk in the cavernous rooms of their overly complex, oversized house.

Hereditary owes a lot to the likes of The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, and it’s a wonderfully confident debut feature from writer/director Aster. With a stronger final act, this could have been a truly unsettling experience. Instead, it’s certainly a must-see for horror aficionados, but general audiences can probably just wait for the next ‘scariest movie since The Exorcist‘…

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After impressing the world with 10 Cloverfield Lane, producers J.J. Abrams and Drew Goddard are back with The Cloverfield Paradox. Previously known as God Particle, it focusses on a group of scientists on a space station trying to solve the world’s energy crisis when something goes terribly, terribly wrong.

First off, the production values are solid. Despite its surprise straight-to-Netflix nature, The Cloverfield Paradox looks like a cinema release. The sets are fantastic and well-integrated with the digital trickery. The score is suitably epic, reminding me of Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho more than once.

Secondly, this is a stunning cast. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl, Chris O’Dowd, Elizabeth Debicki and Ziyi Zhang are all excellent. It’s is an incredible gathering of talent. Time and again, their acting prowess gets us through some really, really dunderheaded dialogue. O’Dowd in particular shines here. As with The Sapphires, he’s playing a dramatic role that’s afforded some really good punchlines.

It’s the script hampers what could have been an excellent film. Writers Oren Uziel (10 Cloverfield Lane, 22 Jump Street, ‘Shimmer Lake’) and Doug Jung (Star Trek: Beyond, ‘Banshee’, Confidence) needed to work through a couple more drafts. For example: in the first ten minutes, we get three scenes in a row that deliver the same information to the audience three times. There’s also some very, very dodgy science. I don’t know much about quantum entanglement, but I’m pretty sure the hand-wave explanations provided here are far from accurate.

In fact, this film could have been saved in the edit room. (Hey, it worked for Star Wars, so why not here?) Considering how last-minute Paramount’s sale to Netflix was, I have to wonder if Netflix rushed to release it because they wanted it to coincide with the Super Bowl ad spot they’d already purchased. They could have cut a good 15 minutes out and The Cloverfield Paradox would have been better for it. As it is, the film is hampered by over-exposition, resulting in plot twists the audience can see coming from a mile away.

In terms of the how this film affects the franchise, the links to the first two films are vague yet incredibly significant. Basically, it allows the filmmakers to do whatever they want. These efforts to layout the “rules” of the franchise, such as they are, tend to be a waste of a film (as with 2009’s Star Trek). I would have been happy with only the vague connective tissue present in the last film.

The Cloverfield Paradox is nowhere near as bad as some critics would have you believe. If you want to watch an Alien/Event Horizon/Sunshine mash-up, you could do a lot worse. There’s so much talent circling this project; it’s just such a pity they weren’t able to refine it before release.

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But, here we are, with a film from the director of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor), starring none other than Ellen Page. And boy, is it a stinker. It’s the same story: a bunch of medical students decide to kill themselves – just a little bit – and then bring themselves back, in the hopes of exploring what happens when you find yourself in a tunnel, heading towards that bright light.

The cast are actually really good, particularly Page and Diego Luna. And when you focus on scenes in isolation, Oplev’s direction is solid too.

This version gets a lot of things wrong, however. The first thing I noticed was the complete lack of mystery. As of their first foray into death, we instantly know the cast’s past sins. The original spun the characters’ back stories out for almost the entire length of the film, whereas here we know right away what everyone did wrong. This complete lack of narrative tension is inexcusable.

But there’s something else amiss too, and I think it happened in postproduction. Whether the director walked, or the studio took it off his hands, or they ran out of money or whatever, it’s clear that changes were made…

First off, we have big VFX moments that make little sense in the context of the story. Then, we have last-minute VFX additions that appear little more than 2D inserts. Not once, but twice the film relied on a jump scare that was the equivalent of a “South Park” cut-out character sliding into frame. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t such atrocious filmmaking.

Later in the film, I noticed that one of the after-death “visions” featured the actress in a very distinctive top. I couldn’t figure out why they’d made that costume decision…until I saw her wear that same top in the real world 15 minutes later, in the climax.

It’s clear that Flatliners had a massive overhaul during postproduction. Whether there was a good film there beforehand is anyone’s guess. This isn’t a unified vision, however, and it’s a pity when the best thing about a film is the poster.

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And for the most part, Happy Death Day delivers on its premise. College student Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) relives the same day over and over, only to be murdered by a masked killer every time. She quickly deduces that the only way to break to the cycle is to unveil the identity of her attacker.

Happy Death Day very quickly establishes itself as a comedy first, horror movie second. In fact, after the first day, it fails to create even the merest sense of dread. It’s the problem with horror/comedies – once you play things for laughs (in this case, a death montage), it’s hard to once again summon the scares. Very few films – aside from Scream 1, 2 and 4 – have managed this tricky balance.

Jessica Rothe (who was one of the housemates in La La Land) does an impressive job, especially considering that she is in every single scene. The entire film rests on her shoulders, so she really deserves props for stretching her comedy/action/drama muscles within the same film.

In an amusing case of budget restrictions, 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” doesn’t appear in the film, despite featuring prominently in the trailer. Clearly they only had enough money for the latter. Instead, we get an awful stand-in mobile ringtone that, well, gets the job done.

“Gets the job done” could apply to the production values generally. Whilst everyone knows that Blumhouse Productions make films on the cheap, Happy Death Day features some shoddy sets, sitcom-level wardrobe and merely good-enough VFX. It’s fine, considering the comedic nature of the movie, but this bland visual style reminded me of The Butterfly Effect more than anything else – another film that had trouble balancing its comedy with its sci-fi premise.

This is a stupid film. But it knows that it’s stupid, so that’s all right. A brief 96 minutes, it doesn’t outstay its welcome, and whilst the plot revelations aren’t genius, I can’t pretend I saw them coming. If you’re up for a silly, amiable horror film that isn’t remotely scary, Happy Death Day is worth your time.

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Thankfully, Mike Flanagan was the man for the job. His adaptation (co-written by Jeff Howard) stays true to the source material whilst making alterations that clearly had to happen with the change of medium. But above all else, it’s clear that Flanagan is a huge fan of the book, and King’s work in general.

As we know, King’s done every story at least twice (see also ‘Christine’ and ‘From a Buick 8’) so on the surface, Gerald’s Game is similar to ‘Misery’, in that our lead character is bedridden for the majority of the story. Carla Gugino plays Jessie Burlingame, wife of Gerald (Bruce Greenwood). As the film starts, they have retreated to their holiday house in the hopes of healing their failing marriage. Initially intending to spice up their love life with a little bit of bondage, Gerald happens to drop dead at the worst possible moment, leaving Jessie handcuffed to the bed. And this is how she spends the rest of the film.

Since the majority of ‘Gerald’s Game’ plays out in Jessie’s head, depicting her mental struggle was always going to be the challenge of any adaptation. In this department, Flanagan’s film excels. By having imaginary versions of herself and people from her past appear, Jessie is able to have conversations instead of merely talking to herself.

Gugino is excellent as Jessie. I feel like I’ve only seen her in supporting roles before, and it’s great to see her let loose in an extremely challenging role. Greenwood is great also. The film doesn’t shy away from the most shocking parts of the book – including that one moment of gore – and it handles the darker and more serious topics reasonably well too.

The cinematography is excellent. The camera uses the setting to the fullest effect, whilst there are some genius moments of lighting that really sell the eerie parts of the story.

King fans can rejoice, for Flanagan’s film is up there with the best of King’s work. For those who are wondering, he even included the link to that other King story. Most importantly, it’s restrained when it needs to be restrained, and doesn’t hold back when the tale reaches its crazy zenith. You could argue the film stumbles during the final act, but again, that’s true to the novel – I know quite a few people that feel that way about the book also.

All in all, it’s been worth the wait.

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