You’re in for a great time at the movies! (And for more than a little bit of stress and anguish, but we’ll get to that) If you’ve never played any of the many Resident Evil games -some of which are good- or seen any of the many previous Resident Evil movies -none of which are good- you’re in luck because Zach Cregger’s otherwise great horror comedy has precious little connection to the franchise.
Leviticus follows The Backrooms and Obsession in a number of ways; for starters, in being the first feature film of a young director (Adrian Chiarella), finding unexpected critical and commercial success on a shoestring budget, or the one that interests me more: making good horror with a compelling allegory that nevertheless operates on only one level, the surface.
I loved the premise of Obsession more than I liked the execution.
In all, Backrooms is a great chance to have a stressful time at the movies. When Hollywood is reduced to lowest possible effort nostalgia, we can turn to independent filmmakers to break new ground and explore complex themes.
I don’t know when exactly I realized Ready or Not 2 was going to be a disappointment but I think it may be when Samara Weaving puts on her wedding dress like it’s a superhero suit-up sequence.
Exit 8 deftly blurs the line between horror and thriller, turning it into a gripping 90-minute single-location journey through its own version of purgatory.
I liked the previous one; this one didn’t work for me.
Ryan Coogler’s genius is that every part of this thrilling vampire movie also works to explore multiple overlapping themes.
Fun enough, I’m just not sure we’re treading new ground with this concept anymore.
A fun concept thriller that might have worked better as a short feature.
