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Slumber Party Massacre (2021)
Not a reboot, but a pamphlet
"Slumber Party Massacre" is a slasher from the minds of Amy Holden Jones and Rita Mae Brown, which draws more attention than the story itself, which consists of yet another 1980s slasher, with a misogynistic maniac on the loose, after girls very comfortable with their bodies. The weapon chosen to kill and the maniac's peculiarities give the viewer the necessary tips to understand the point that the original authors wanted to address.
What happens with this new version commissioned by the SYFY channel is the result of the new authors' inability to insert into the story the questions they supposedly intend to raise. This is not a problem exclusive to Danishka Esterhazy or Suzanne Keilly, it is a recurring problem in countless current titles, occurring more significantly in remake and reboot attempts.
The first half begins with a past cliffhanger, moves towards a girls' weekend, reveals a revenge plot... Nothing develops and, from the second half on wards, male characters appear to suggest a parody regarding female objectification, observed in the slasher genre... Nothing develops either... Not even male nudity, which is delivered in an embarrassed and prudish way, since the idea was to subvert the cliché... And the maniac is completely sidelined...
There is a corrective fever taking over new productions that compels new authors to revisit well-known titles from the past to correct, remodel and exacerbate their fashionable sociopolitical comments.
They are unable to insert what they want to express through their characters, in the course of a story. No, the characters just wander from one scene to the next, reproducing the catchphrases that flood social media. So nothing really develops in this new "Slumber Party Massacre." In fact, it is just another opportunity to exhaust the superficial maxims of identity empowerment a little more, while the material lacks boldness and substance.
Sick (2022)
Kevin's formula still works
Kevin's formula still works
A little humor, a little of the good old horror clichés, agile dialogues without extreme mannerisms or fads, an acidic comment on the real context in which the film is set and, most importantly, intelligent, smart, fast protagonists!
I don't understand exactly where the new generation of horror is looking, but it's definitely not at the guys who established, renewed, or strengthened the genre over the decades.
Horror is far from being a slow, drawn-out thing, full of absurdly stupid characters (who need to be like that for the next action to happen) and with a one-sided view on a chosen theme. And, above all, it is far from being a school illustration for some sociopolitical or partisan discourse. Horror is here to present us with everyday conflicts in a grotesque metaphor, fears and desires taken to infernal power.
The COVID-19 pandemic has awakened countless beliefs and conflicts, irresponsibility and punitive impulses have taken frightening forms in a matter of months... It would be too easy to create a story that only confirms the most accepted and propagated answers, without giving the viewer any doubts for an objective debate - without this, the author considers his consumer an idiot.
This is where Kevin Williamson has been incredible since his debut in Scream: the possibility of debating the topics he raises in his writing.
Thank you, Mr. Williamson, I certainly had a good time with "Sick." I hope it doesn't take too long to sign another project.
Something from Tiffany's (2022)
A film that refuses to develop itself
I stumbled upon "Something From Tiffany's" these days and out of curiosity to see Jack Nicholson's son acting, I took the risk.
The synopsis is quite simple, the male characters exchange the gifts they are going to give their brides, so I deduced that it would be an average romantic comedy. How wrong I was...!
Technically, it's a huge 90-minute ad, with little or no cinematic branding - which so far is nothing new in current productions. But the plot twists only because the characters are unable to speak frankly and sincerely with each other.
The baker protagonist is beyond verbiage, she is someone who speaks and acts stressed all the time, under any emotion, and this behavior is presumed in the story as the behavior of someone loving and authentic. Well, after 20 minutes, it's just boring and artificial anyway.
The writer protagonist is strangely uncomfortable with himself, to the point where he can't quite say that gifts were exchanged, that some mistake has occurred and resolve it as a grown man... It's incredible that this character passes himself off as a writer with a career.
The other characters just orbit the protagonists and I, the spectator, must assume from their attitudes that things are not going smoothly between them and that there is a crisis in their relationships, because the script or the director decided not to develop any of these points throughout the film. They decided that I, the spectator, cannot know anything about the other characters, they just appear in the places where the protagonists are and give indications that something is not right.
Instead, you have the protagonists meeting and meeting again, with the same crystallized behavior - the baker always talkative and the writer always uncomfortable -, without ever touching the subject that gives the film its title. There's no romance, there's no comedy, and I don't even know who these characters are who walked back and forth across the screen for 90 minutes...!
Night of Fear (1973)
An interesting piece of...
It's not a work of great entertainment, but it's artistically competent and well worth it for anyone who likes to dip and wallow in Horror.
The editing merges a bit of the raison d'être of a movie trailer, that is, clippings of what will come next, without clarifying what will actually come - which didn't particularly work for me. But, knowing now that this is a movie crafted into a TV series, this almost stylized edit makes sense.
The characters present themselves in the standards of horror films, already very well established in the 1970s, and do not develop a complete arc, they are just there to do what is expected of the genre: kill and die. What you have then is the art around it. Photography, performances and soundtrack.
The Lady Gambles (1949)
Relentless pace
Although the story is quite simple and of predictable consequences, I just couldn't take my eyes off the screen. I'm always in awe of those movies that don't waste a single scene.
Artistically exciting and with a brutal opening sequence, "The Lady Gambles" is a short thriller with a lot going on in a woman's life, as the protagonist herself says, "with nothing better to do".
As for the reasons for her addiction, there are no assertions. She loves her husband, but their marriage has reached such a stagnation point that the chance to do anything that will take her out of her lonely normalcy overwhelms her.
Cards, dice, booze, bums and a very seductive mobster, who could resist? I know I couldn't...
Added to this is a sneakily cruel older sister, who never misses a chance to make the protagonist feel guilty about her mediocre life.
These family plots, where one emotionally manipulates the other, are almost always infallible in old movies. I just missed a little more depth in the backstory between the protagonist and her sister. More scenes between the two and perhaps a cathartic clash, just to see more of such a talented cast under such capable direction.