acidburn-10

'Hereditary' is a powerful, superbly crafted and emotionally intense supernatural psychological horror drama masterpiece that doesn't just frighten or shock you, it crawls under your skin and lingers in your mind long after it's over. Directed and written by Ari Aster in his feature length debut, the movie is a masterclass in terror and psychological torment as it blends themes such as grief, trauma and an unsettling sense of dread into a slow-burning nightmare that refuses to let go until it's final moments.

The Plot = After the passing of her mother, Annie (Toni Collette) and the rest of her family are grief stricken and soon find themselves haunted by sinister occurrences and the horrifying truth about Annie's family history begins to surface.

The movie was and still is an instant iconic horror classic as it challenges you with themes such as inherited trauma and mental illness, then hits you with supernatural scares, nerve pounding terror and emotionally devastating tragedy, all of which are tightly woven into the fantastic script which makes this film so disturbingly effective. While this movie can be viewed as a once in a lifetime viewing experience, it actually requires multiple viewings as the story in the foreground is only one part of what's actually happening. The family drama premise is instantly engaging and rather than relying on jump scares, it focuses on atmosphere and masterfully built tension. When the horror elements kicks in it catches you off guard with visceral imagery and shocking violence which leaves you disturbed and emotionally drained even before the final climax kicks in, and everything erupts into glorious chaos. That's what makes this movie such a modern horror masterpiece for the ages.

The direction by Ari Astor is exceptional as his confident craftmanship effectively builds tension and suspense throughout with long lingering and unbroken shots, showing off his skilled camerawork that focuses on the eerie atmosphere and unsettling imagery that oftens lurks in the background and successfully creates a claustrophobic sense of terror and dread. The sound design is eerily effective and adds a nice chilling and haunting touch to the superb production

The performances here are incredible with each actor giving it their all. Toni Collette proves to be a powerhouse here as the grief-stricken Mother Annie and reveals each emotionally distressed layer as the movie goes on and proves to be the very heart and soul of the movie. Gabriel Byrne gives an excellent and understated performance as the father Steve. Alex Wolff gives a remarkable turn as the son Peter and Milly Shapiro provides a standout performance as the strange daughter Charlie.

Overall 'Hereditary' is simply a must-watch for any fans of psychological horror movies, as it's a classic for the ages and fully deserves all the praise and attention it has received over the years.

'The Quiet Ones' is a decent, restrained and yet rather generic British supernatural horror film from the revived production company Hammer films. The movie blends traditional horror with found footage elements to evoke a retro vibe mixed with old school scares, but what we end up with is something of a mixed bag. Directed by John Pogue and loosely based upon the real life 'Phillip experiment', from 1972, the movie is an average viewing experience at best.

The Plot = Set in 1974, Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris), a university professor gathers a team of students to conduct an experiment on a possessed young woman named Jane Harper (Olivia Cooke) to prove that poltergeists aren't real but ends up uncovering a dark and terrifying force that threatens them all.

The movie does have a lot of good going for it such as intriguing premise, solid performances and the chilling atmosphere that fully captures it's 1970's setting with its somewhat grounded realism and muted tones. However, what lets this down is the lacklustre script and over reliance on cheap jump scares which are for the most part ineffective and really takes you out of the moment. The found footage segments aren't overused and adds an effective layer to the production. While the direction by John Pogue is solid and the filmmaking aspects are spot on, the movie stumbles in its execution and despite offering a compelling mystery to keep you invested, it never fully comes together and leads to a rather anticlimactic final conclusion.

The performances here were good and does just enough to keep the viewer invested throughout its runtime. Jared Harris delivers a solid lead performance as Professor Coupland. Sam Claflin provides a solid emotional anchor to the film as the cameraman Brian McNeil. Olivia Cooke provides a haunting and mesmerizing performance as Jane Harper and proves to be the main standout here.

Overall 'The Quiet Ones' offers an interesting concept and delivers just enough to warrant a one time watch, but it's ultimately let down by a weak screenplay and could have done with a bit more bite.

'The Bye Bye Man' is a predictable, uneven and painfully generic supernatural horror film that squanders its potential and interesting premise to deliver a forgettable disappointment littered with bad writing, hollow jump scares and dreadful superficial characters. Directed by Stacy Title and based upon the chapter 'The Bridge to Body Island' in Robert Damon Schneck's book 'The President's Vampire', this is about as cliched as PG-13 horror movies can get.

The Plot = Three college students move into a new house off campus, where they unwittingly unleash a supernatural entity known as 'The Bye Bye Man', who comes to prey upon them and causes evil unspeakable acts.

The movie had an interesting concept which had the potential to be something far better than what it was, but unfortunately the execution was severely lacking. The scares were not fully developed or explored and despite a somewhat intriguing first half where the elements were in place for a thrill ride, everything felt held back due to its PG-13 rating, you can tell the violence was chopped down and heavily edited to appeal to a younger audience and lacked any sort of tension building or suspense whatsoever due to fact the script follows a basic formula where you know what's going to happen without any surprises whatsoever.

The only positives that I could give is that the direction by Stacy Title was competent and the concept of 'The Bye Bye Man' was quite interesting, even if the movie didn't know how to fully explore this idea.

The acting performances here were horrendous and none of the characters were compelling enough for you to fully invest in. Douglas Smith gives a very stiff performance as Elliot. Cressinda Bonas gives a flat performance as Sasha with no emotional range. Lucien Laviscount lacked any charisma in his role as John. Doug Jones gives the only decent performance as the titular villain. Faye Dunaway and Carrie Ann Moss both show up for pointless cameos in a failed attempt at adding some credibility to a bad horror film.

Overall 'The Bye Bye Man' is a run of the mill bad supernatural horror film with laughably bad CGI effects, cheap jump scares and an awful script.