Movies
A live streamer parody and a haunted house horror rolled into one. It's not the most original premise, though I don't think I've seen it done before with this type of gag streamer nonsense. It's a smart move and it works well, but not for 90 minutes straight. After a while, the lead character was just a bit too grating for my taste. Shawn is a popular streamer who messed up and got canceled by the internet. Six months later he resurfaces, and he wants to build up his brand again. He is willing to stream from a haunted house and he locks himself inside the premises. Not a smart move, as some actual ghosts are eager to take a swing at him. Joseph Winter does well, but his character isn't strong enough to carry the film the whole way through. The effects are a bit crummy (I get it, the 80s and all, but not a success), the streamer stuff starts taking up too much time and the film overstays its welcome. Not bad, it just would've been better with 15 minutes cut.Read all
A disappointment after '94. It all depends on the directors who are participating of course, but with names like Flying Lotus and Johannes Roberts attached, I expected more from this anthology. None of the five shorts made a real impact, and the VHS effects were a bit overdone for a "99" film. We get five short this time around. The first is about a punk band going to a burnt-down bar, the second is about sorority hazing, the third film shows a gameshow gone wrong, the fourth one follows some horny teenagers who are about to get the scare of their lives and the fifth one sees two bozos transported to hell. What this film lacks are entries like Timo Tjahjanto's from '94, something that sticks once the credits start rolling. The horror effects are solid and graphic, but the premises are rather bland, there's no real build-up and the reveals are pretty basic too. It's still decent enough filler, but it's one of the weakest entries in the franchise so far.Read all