Cardboard teens attend a cardboard eighties prom despite being stalked by a serial killer in a generic mask and robe. Prom Queen is so formulaic that it is rumoured it was produced on the same assembly line that churned out all those regurgitated sequels to The Strangers. A bunch of one-note characters get sliced and diced in some imaginative ways but that is where the creativity reaches a dead end. Besides the kills there is nothing memorable or exceptional about Prom Queen except for the fact that besides the music the producers couldn’t even replicate the eighties setting right. This movie is totally bogus and totally lame.
Watch on: Netflix
Bloodlines is on the same level as the two most seminal entries in the series, the original movie and the sequel. It was pretty much all downhill from there with a few exceptions. Who would have thunk that the creative forces behind the Kim Possible live action movie ( Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein) and the director of Spider-Man Homecoming, Far from Home and No Way Home would reenergize and rejuvenate an underappreciated horror franchise such as Final Destination? Perhaps they need to hang up their capes and sharpen those machetes instead. It is safe to say though that just as the hacked up, shot up, burnt up corpses of Jason and Freddy will be resurrected one day, Final Destination is back with vengeance.
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Watch in: Theaters, On Demand
Clown is a lot brighter and smarter which is why horror fans shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this is just another release trying to capitalize on the popularity of Terrifier and Art the Clown. While I am sure that is partially why it was greenlit in the first place as Hollywood loves to play Invasion of the Body Snatchers cranking out cinematic clones when someone or something is red hot but Clown sort of like the Bad Batch’s Sergeant Hunter who thinks and acts on his own even though he owes his very existence to Jango Fett’s DNA. You can be rest assured though that unlike Jango, the Force is definitely with Frendo.
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Watch on: Theaters, On Demand
If you can look past the fact that grandma has a hidden ceremonial chamber in her squalid apartment or that anyone would let their grannie live in such a rathole, Rosario is a good scare that has the same tone as 2017’s Terrified. The premise is creepy enough, a woman is forced to watch over her grandmother’s corpse until the authorities arrive to remove the body, to begin with but when you add parasitic worms, evil spirits popping out of bookcases and Late Night with the Devil’s David Dastmalchian as abuela’s next door neighbor then you have something that will completely weird you out.
Watch on: Amazon Video, Apple TV, YouTube Movies.
A therapist with special abilities and her daughter who might or might not have special abilities too become embroiled in the case of a teen girl who is being tortured by an evil spirit. Even though it relies far too heavily on jump scares and borrows far too much from 2004’s Shutter, there is something about the relationship between the psychic mom (Ashley Greene) and her maybe psychic daughter (Ellie O’Brien) that will keep you watching this supernatural drama play out.
Watch on: Amazon Video, Apple TV, YouTube Movies
In Dario Argento’s Deep Red there is a scene in which the killer smashes a victim’s teeth against a marble fireplace…over and over again. It is an excruciating scene to watch. Bring Her Back has a similar scene which will have you wincing and cringing. There are some grotesque moments as well but the film itself isn’t that eerie or creepy. Back recycles that “abuse dad” trope again with siblings Andy and Piper being shipped off to a foster home after their dad passes away. Piper (Sora Wong) needs special attention as she mostly blind and Andy (Billy Barratt), a teen, has somewhat of a checkered past as kid.
Their new guardian Laura (Sally Hawkins) is like Jack Nicholson from The Shining. You know she is bat-shit crazy from the moment you see her so that kind of ruins some of the suspense. Laura has a young son who has gone mute since the death of his sister. She drowned in the backyard pool and Laura is still drowning in grief.
The issue here is that despite being a compelling narrative Bring Her Back’s story is predictable from beginning to end in the sense that you know where the story is heading, you know what is and will happen even if the characters don’t. There are a few surprises along the way but mostly the story end up where you think it might. Bring Her Back is worth checking out just for Sally Hawkins’ incredibly manic and often sympathetic portrayal of Laura which deserves some kind of gold statuette.
Watch on: In theatres, On demand.
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