Movies
A slow burn that's a bit too slow and doesn't burn quite bright enough to be truly successful. Bruckner certainly has a knack for horror, that much is clear as there are some truly arresting scenes here. That said, I think he could use someone to trim and edit everything down to a more interesting film. Beth mourns her recently deceased husband Owen. Seemingly out of nowhere Owen killed himself, leaving Beth behind with a lot of questions. When she is rummaging through his stuff, she finds a picture of a young woman on his phone. Beth starts to suspect Owen had a secret life she didn't know about. The Night House felt like a collage of familiar horror elements that never really come together in a very coherent manner. There are some proper scares here, Hall is a decent enough actress and the mystery is upheld until the very end. Still, there are quite a few dead moments and too many unresolved horror elements to be considered a genre highlight. Solid filler.Read all
Southbound
A slight disappointment. Not that my expectations were all that high, not after they axed a slew of way more interesting directors from the project, but it was obvious that they wanted to bring back some of the original flair to the Hellraiser franchise. That didn't really work out with Bruckner helming the film. Riley is recovering from a drug addiction, but her newest boyfriend gets her on the wrong path again. Together they plan a heist, where they find the infamous puzzle box. Riley takes it home and inadvertently calls on Pinhead. She and her friends will have to fight off the Cenobites, as they lust for their flesh. There's been a lot of talk about having a female Pinhead, but who cares when the Cenobites look like crap, the film lacks the excessive gore and the tension is completely absent. Yes, the budget is finally there again, but the horror elements are poorly executed and boring. That's not what you want from a Hellraiser film. Also, two hours is insane for a simple film like this. Just hire a good director for the next one, please.Read all
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