Author: Joel Fisher

Sean Beckwith (Jason Patric) is searching for his daughter and his search leads him to Mexico where he believes a cartel have held her hostage. Having been a soldier, Sean has a particular set of skills when it comes to dealing with these kinds of situations and he thinks he’s well within his rights to take matters into his own hands.

However, Sean hasn’t come alone as he’s brought a group of ex-army buddies to help him out, in particular Max Vodhen (Cam Gigandet) who he considers to be his right-hand man. So, as the local authorities aren’t prepared to help, then Sean and his team have to go in armed to the teeth.

Shrapnel is an action drama directed by William Kaufman and written by Chad Law and Johnny Walters. The kind of movie which has become something of a cliché in recent years, Shrapnel seems to do nothing different and doesn’t offer anything more significant than what came before.

Movies such as Sicario have given this kind of border war drama a different edge even though its sequel may not have lived up to its predecessor’s expectations. Also, Rambo: Last Blood didn’t do its genre any favours either with its political leanings being more apparent.

Shrapnel sits somewhere in between, whilst it’s hard to deny that this kind of thing is a male fantasy of sorts which goes back as far as The Searchers, it also makes it clear that it’s nothing personal, it’s just business. However, giving the audience the bare bones of a story, which is predictable and filled with gunfire may bore its target audience.

The audience doesn’t know very much about Sean either as the movie begins. He’s put into a certain situation which a lot of people would dread to find themselves in, however the allure of the drama where only one man can do the job may ignite a dream where somebody deals out their own style of vigilante justice.

It’s just a shame that when you take away all the gunfire, the story is paper thin and doesn’t show its audience anything that they haven’t seen before.

Site 13: Review

Nathan Marsh (Nathan Faudree) has woken up in a mental institution and has no recollection of how he got there. Worse still, he feels like there’s something inside him that’s screaming to get out and that soon becomes apparent when his possession announces itself to Sister Margaret (Leila Dean).

Seemingly in the best place for him, Nathan finds out that he was the sole survivor of an attack which may have unleashed an unspeakable horror into the world. The trouble is that it seems that the demon is still inside Nathan, so he must relive those terrible moments which were all captured on video.

Site 13 is a supernatural horror movie written and directed by Nathan Faudree and Tony Urban. The kind of movie that harkens back to something that may have been made in the Seventies, Site 13 leans on the tropes of horror whilst attempting something original.

However, the trouble is that Site 13 seems to want to do too much at once. Partly shot as found footage, the story takes the audience into the events prior to Nathan’s capture, showing the audience what happened. The problem is that this so often cuts back and forth from the past to the present that any suspense is lifted as soon as the audience are reminded that it’s being watched by a nun on a TV screen.

There are also many elements which are thrown in to keep Site 13 interesting, but unfortunately these elements seem to overwhelm the story. This leads to many incidences that which are hard not to laugh at because the movie takes itself so seriously.

A movie which may not be trying to be ‘so bad, it’s good’, nevertheless it feels like the story runs away with itself. As it goes back and forth, it leads to a final act that’s so over the top that the audience may not believe what they’re seeing.

Something which was perhaps best accomplished in Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce. A movie which is clearly far too ambitious for its own good, Site 13 may equally confuse and amuse its audience unintentionally.

Branna (Erin Gavin) and Finn (Gavin O’Fearraigh) are a couple looking to get away from it all for the weekend. They’ve booked a place in San Diego and coming from Ireland, they’re a long way from home and looking forward to relaxing. Tony (Steve Martini) and Gia (Gabriela Kulaif) are also a couple, looking to get away from it all when they run into Branna and Finn.

As it turns out, they’ve both booked the same place for the weekend and after a phone call they decide to stay overnight until the confusion can be sorted. However, staying in the house won’t be that easy as they start to hear and see strange things during the night.

Holistay is a supernatural horror movie about two very different couples. One couple being from Ireland and the other being from the US, they’re worlds apart in terms of culture.

However, once they start talking then they start to realise they have more in common than they thought, even if Tony and Gia are still hiding something.

That seems to be the trouble with Holistay too, it wants to be a supernatural horror, but there are too many things holding it back from going in the full horror direction that audiences may expect. The mystery behind Tony and Gia’s activities is revealed and a more accomplished director may be able to pace the movie better.

Instead, Holistay feels like a much longer movie than it is and doesn’t know how to tell its story or punctuate the moments of drama and social commentary in order to be affective. This leaves a lot of the time for the characters to talk to each other and where the dread of something supernatural could be slowly increased, here it feels barely apparent.

This means that there is an unfortunate balance between the story elements and the horror, something which may bore its audience as the characters talk about something that mostly happened off screen. Holistay wants to be a welcome break from the usual horror tropes, but by barely acknowledging them it may make its audience want to leave.

Petey (Annie Murphy) is the heiress to a hugely successful fashion brand run by her mother, (Christine Baranski). However, Petey still wants to try and make it on her own, but has little success because she’s never learned to speak up for herself. Then one day Petey’s mother makes some incredible revelations about her life, one being that her father (Stephen Root) is dead and the other that he owned a town called New Utopia.

Wanting nothing to do with it at first, Petey is soon forced to move when she finds out that her best friend cheated with her fiancé and her apartment burns down. Leaving her no choice but to head to New Utopia, blissfully unaware that her father was actually the leader of the New Utopian cult.

Although once made aware of this, she decides to make a fresh start and make changes to give the people of New Utopia a better life – on her terms.

Praise Petey is an animation coming to Freeform created by Anna Drezen with Mike Judge and Greg Daniels on board as executive producers. A concept which could be ripe for comedy, it feels like Praise Petey is treading familiar territory.

Fans of Schitt’s Creek will be all too familiar with the story of a young socialite forced to live in a backward town who learns to grow as a person. However, it seems that this concept may take a while to fully develop as half way through the first season, Petey is still as self-absorbed and delusional as when she started.

The cast and people involved behind the scenes may be what brings people in and they all give good performances befitting of their reputations. However, the script feels like it was picked up after a long time in development and it didn’t get too far past its initial stages.

This means that often there are moments where the jokes feel dated and while it tries to talk about feminist portrayals in the media, it follows the same cliches with little self-awareness. Not quite as subversive as it thinks it is, Praise Petey may even be a series that was just made to fill a quota.

Tired of his life, Michael (Michael Hanelin) takes a break in a bar where he meets a beautiful woman who offers him a good time. However, Michael soon blacks out and when he awakes, he finds himself faced with Dr. Savilee (Allen Valor), an evil man bent on destroying his life. However, whilst Michael is being tortured, Dr. Saville wants to entertain his captive and shows him three stories of morality and regret.

Dr. Saville’s Horror Show is a horror anthology directed by Kevin R. Phipps which tells three stories in the framing of a man desperate to fight for his life. Taking theses three stories, it gives director Phipps the opportunity to show his range as a director and what he is capable of doing.

Firstly, there’s Anna (Honda King), a woman desperate to lose weight and so goes to the doctor who gives her pills. However, when she starts hearing a voice to tell her to keep eating, things start to get dark.

Then there’s Drew (Kirk Levingar) who’s perpetually single and blames it on his need to find the right woman. However, after thinking that a pet would suit his life better, he finds that the pet he grows takes on a life of her own.

Lastly, in a homage to zombie movies, a father and daughter are forced to fight for their lives amidst an invasion of the undead. However, things may not be all that they seem.

Director Phipps manages to deliver three very different stories, however not all of them are as successful as others. The surrounding story with Dr. Saville attempts to clear up the loose threads and inconsistencies, but it feels like it wants to be cleverly self-referential rather than tell a better story.

Of all the stories, perhaps the story about a man growing his own pet has the most potential. It’s darkly comedic and feels like it has something to say about relationships. However, like the rest it gets cut short and feels unsatisfactory. A better anthology than most, Dr. Saville’s Horror Show could perhaps have taken a little more time to tell complete stories.