Double Feature: The Lodgers (2017) & Luz (2018)

Welcome to the next double feature as we continue with the alphabet and head into our L selections! The first is an Irish gothic horror called The Lodgers and the second is a German (and Spanish) supernatural horror film. Let’s check it out!

The Lodgers (2017)

Director: Brian O’Malley

Cast: Charlotte Vega, Bill Milner, Eugene Simon, David Bradley, Deirdre O’Kane, Moe Dunford, Roisin Murphy

1920, rural Ireland. Anglo Irish twins Rachel and Edward share a strange existence in their crumbling family estate. Each night, the property becomes the domain of a sinister presence (The Lodgers) which enforces three rules upon the twins: they must be in bed by midnight; they may not permit an outsider past the threshold; if one attempts to escape, the life of the other is placed in jeopardy. When troubled war veteran Sean returns to the nearby village, he is immediately drawn to the mysterious Rachel, who in turn begins to break the rules set out by The Lodgers. – IMDB

The Lodgers is a gloomy sort of film. Its filmed with a dark atmosphere and lingers in a mysterious air as the story of The Lodgers, their rules and these twins’ stories are gradually revealed of why they are bond to the house and what is expected of them. The story does take a nice pace in revealing it and maintains a rather creepy vibe especially in the first half when its laying out the story and the mysterious vibe with the crumbling estate and what the predicament of the twins and the lodgers. Its in the second half when things start unfolding that it starts feeling like it loses a little of its steam since the twist is revealed in a fairly obvious way by that point and its easy to understand where the twist is. To be fair, its actually one of the scenes of the female lead seeing the figures of her parents in the lake that seem to repeat itself one time too many.

The Lodgers falls under one of the issues where the “monster” aka The Lodgers reveal is where it renders the horror element lesser than when it was a mystery.  While that is the case, the whole underwater scene is shot so nicely of where the lodgers reside and who they are. There’s something very fantastically creepy about the deep underwater darkness and its captured so well.

Other than that, there are essentially three main characters here. The female lead Rachel (Charlotte Vega), her twin brother Edward (Bill Milner) and Rachel’s suitor Sean (Eugene Simon). There are a few other supporting cast that help further set up the story and the mystery surrounding the twins and their estate. The three main leads do create a nice dynamic especially watching the interaction between the twins as well as between Rachel and Sean.

The Lodgers do have a few tropes and such but somehow it does have this very chilling and ominous feeling throughout. Its twist is revealed gradually but is rather easy to find the hints to what its trying to build towards by probably the middle of the movie. There are some unique elements to the story that definitely deserve a watch especially with its estate setting being used from inside the house to the grounds as well as having a great cinematography.

Luz (2018)

Director (and writer): Tilman Singer

Cast: Luana Velis, Johannes Benecke, Jan Bluthardt, Lilli Lorenz, Julia Riedler, Nadja Stubiger

Luz, a young cabdriver, drags herself into the brightly lit entrance of a run-down police station. A demonic entity follows her, determined to finally be close to the woman it loves. – IMDB

The best way to describe Luz is probably “odd” and “bizarre”. The whole setup of the movie has this old film filter over its scenes. At the same time, its incredibly psychological. Visually, it uses a lot of close-up shots as well as still shots to capture the moments and emphasize an uneasiness in the scene. It fluctuates between what is reality and hypnotic dimension especially for the character of Luz. There are so many little details set up to bring in a lot of intrigue (and maybe get lost a little in this whole possession) of what is actually happening in the room and what is happening in Luz’s mind. Its all done in such a unique style that adds so much to the story itself.

I do have to say that what works for Luz for some viewers might be what doesn’t work at the same time. Its a strange experience watch and one that challenges piecing together the different parts of the story line especially at the beginning as the events seem to blend together and connecting the characters. As it works towards the finales, the characters and the possession element and the hypnosis world and reality all easily can become this confusing to follow story. For some this confusion might be quite the fun ride. For myself, that ride was unique and as things started to slot back into place, the execution is key to where it all stands out at its best from the cinematography to its use of sounds.

Luz is a hard film to talk about it. Its quite the horror experience on a psychological level and takes a unique approach to the whole possession premise right from start to beginning.

That’s it for this double feature!
Have you seen these films? Thoughts?

Christmas 2018: Angela’s Christmas (2017)

December is finally here! That means that Christmas/Holiday marathon is here.

I’m a bit behind with watching holiday movies even if there was a solid plan on what to watch and even some Netflix films and such to be released before Christmas comes around so its all set. Finally, I got around to getting a short animated Netflix film this weekend. I went into this one completely blind but starting with animated films can’t go wrong, right?

Let’s check it out!

Angela’s Christmas (2018)

Director (and co-writer): Damien O’Connor

Voice Cast: Lucy O’Connell, Ruth Negga

Set in Ireland in the 1910s, ‘Angela’s Christmas’ is a funny, heart-warming and poignant story about the power of family and the innocent desire of a child to ensure everyone is safe, warm and loved at Christmas time. –IMDB

Angela’s Christmas is a 30 minute short Christmas movie that takes us to the night before Christmas when a little girl takes the the Baby Jesus from her church manger with the best intentions of warming him up before returning him to the cold church. Family-friendly holiday films like these are the perfect dose of the holiday spirit filled with both a valuable lesson on family and childhood innocence. It delivers really fun and heartwarming moments.

At the same time, this film also takes us for a little adventure through the streets as Angela encounters lots of fun little incidents. Be it with a policeman with a fun sleight of hand pulling coins and whatnot from ears or going to a more adult setting with a candy shop during the day that turns into a bar at night or even the little arguments between siblings and how everything comes together. There’s a lot to love in here. The animation is also done so nicely with each set piece drawn really well and the night colors working so well together to create some lovely scenes, just like a little creepy alley scene where Angela’s imagination takes her for a little scare as she imagines the tree branch shadows on the wall chases after her. Perhaps more poignant to myself because, I felt that way before eons ago when I went on a Snow White ride and went through the night escape with the trees doing the same thing.

Angela’s Christmas is the perfect length. It builds a nice simple story and delivers some nice lessons on the Christmas spirit and especially about the togetherness of family with a spark of imagination with everyone. Perfect to add to a Christmas marathon for the whole family.

Netflix A-Z Double Feature: Dollhouse (2012) & Dark Skies (2013)

A double feature for letter D seems to be so fitting! Maybe not but coincidentally, right before I started this segment I had seen this Irish drama I’ll be looking at briefly called Dollhouse.  Adding on to my original choice of Dark Skies, we’re in for a little contrast of movies here where the only two things in common are that they are movies starting with D and that the director is also the writer.

Let’s check them out!

Dollhouse (2012)

Director/writer: Kirsten Sheridan

Cast: Seana Kerslake, Johnny Ward, Kate Stanley Brennan, Shane Curry, Ciaran McCabe, Jack Reynor

A group of street teens from Dublin’s inner city break into a house in an upper class suburb. The break-in quickly moves into a night of frenzy, scandal and consequence.-IMDB 

I’m not going to spend too much time on this one.  Dollhouse has a good idea.  It does.  It pulls it together with a relatively better ending. Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself…again.  Dollhouse is empty.  Its a lot of teens just messing around in this fancy house.  They break the stuff, trash the kitchen, mess around inside and outside. Then they sit around and play games.  Eventually you have a reveal fairly soon about what this is all about because the neighbor’s son drops by to see what is going on with the noise and whatnot.  Then there’s more random talking, trashy dialogue and things kind of go full on crazy once they get high and/or drunk.  There is some meaning behind how certain people have better friendship than others and how there’s something hidden nagging at us the whole way.

Although the whole beginning part really doesn’t feel like much the ending does have a reveal that I didn’t see coming.  Its not enough to make me say that its a good movie and it still feels pretty meaningless.  I’m kind of indifferent.  I know its trying to send a message, kind of a coming of age, breaking free and finding out what’s important, maybe.  It is a little sad because at various points it feels like the teens here each have an underlying personality besides their crazy self with their friends and it wants to get deeper into that but then it never fully commits to building on the characters enough for me to care.

Dollhouse is an empty Irish teen drama who doesn’t build enough of its characters but delivers a good final act which unfortunately still doesn’t help the movie feel more meaningful than it probably was intended to.

Dark Skies (2013)

Director & Writer: Scott Stewart

Cast: Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo, Kadan Rockett, L.J. Benet, J.K. Simmons

As the Barret family’s peaceful suburban life is rocked by an escalating series of disturbing events, they come to learn that a terrifying and deadly force is after them.-IMDB

 Sci-fi horror featuring alien invasion sort of angles have been tough for me. I mean, I love the Alien series.  But, thinking about it now, I haven’t been a fan of anything specific.  The first comes to mind is Signs and I didn’t enjoy that one much.  Let’s just say that I was a little nervous going into Dark Skies.  I didn’t know what the story was about but all I knew was that there are aliens and they are invading this family.  That’s it.  But sometimes, its best to go in blind.  Dark Skies had some super creepy screenshots on Netflix and it had me wondering whether I’d be able to handle it.  As it turns out, Dark Skies is a pretty effective horror featuring alien invasion sort of plotline.  I don’t want to ruin the movie so I’m going to keep this as spoiler free as possible.

Dark Skies has an amazing atmosphere.  Its set up effectively to build tension and give you the proper creepy scares.  From the first moment that strange things happen, it already started freaking me out a little.  Then as the plot escalades and we learn more about what is going on, it was just downright scary.  There was one part that was a little weird in the effects department but I quickly overlooked that as the story took an even crazier turn in events.  Although, I have to admit that the twist they put, I had my suspicions already.  Still, it was pretty nice that a movie was able to pull it off in such a clever way.

Another thing that makes Dark Skies effective is that they focus around a family and particularly kids.  Kids in any horror just make things creepier.  When they are pulled into the equation, it just makes it more personal somehow.  In this one, there were two brothers in this family, the Barrets.  The kids were overall pretty great in this.  They did their roles really well.

As for the parents, played by Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton, there isn’t much to say.  I personally like Keri Russell a lot.  Its the first time I’ve seen her do horror so I wondered how it would turn out.  As the movie started getting tense, I started remembering that Keri Russell’s scary face is also being nervous and tense but it worked out great here and I enjoyed it a lot.  Her mom character really set the story in motion many times and there’s that one seen which made me hold my breath a little.  Josh Hamilton on the other hand, played the skeptical parent and I think his character was meant to be a little frustrating to watch because he wouldn’t see what the mom was seeing.  However, the contrast in itself is what makes these two characters paired up well.

I guess the surprise here is the little part that J.K. Simmons has in this one but its exactly what needs to be.  He is the alien expert and he exists to tell us his theories.  As always, as small a role as it is, it still had its purpose and it worked out great.

However, as enjoyable as Dark Skies is, it doesn’t come with no flaws.  The main one being in some of the choices these characters make.  At times, you question their logic.  In the midst of everything that was going on, it sometimes felt that they forgot they were trapped in this weird situation with random things happening or that their children or themselves were in danger.  It seemed a little awkward.

Dark Skies is an effective alien sci-fi horror that works on many levels.  I had some issues with effects and some issues with the logic of certain actions executed by the characters.  However, it does a fine job at building tension and the story itself has a lot of substance.  If anything, it built quite a bit of fear in me that I kept the lights on that night.

Have you seen Dollhouse and/or Dark Skies? What did you think of them? Are there any other memorable sci-fi/horror/alien invasion movies I should check out? 

Any guesses on the selection for E? Think Bollywood! 😉
(I thought about changing it but I’m committing to my original choice)