Author: Joel Fisher

Las Vegas, Nevada is one of the most famous places in the world. Conjuring up all kinds of images, people may think of the huge casinos and the bright lights and not to mention all the famous people that have performed there.

However, there’s another side to Las Vegas and thoughts of the seedy underbelly with people addicted to gambling and its history with nuclear testing is also something to consider. Las Vegas also has the highest suicide rate of anywhere in the country, and the mystery of why that is has never been determined.

This Much we Know is a documentary directed by Lily Frances Henderson which starts out as an intimate look at one young man who died by suicide and turns into a wider investigation into why Las Vegas has such a high suicide rate. Looking at the issues surrounding the famous Sin City, Henderson’s documentary ensures that no stone goes unturned as she explores the possible reasons for such tragedy.

Talking to many experts from psychologists to law enforcers, it starts to feel that Henderson’s documentary is focussing a little too much on the cold, hard facts. The clinical examination of the subject may be respectful to those individual cases where people have taken their own lives, but it feels like it only scratches the surface.

However, This Much we Know has a deeper thread running underneath and that’s due to Henderson’s own experience with losing a loved one. Something which perhaps starts to become about how she’s coming to terms with her own loss.

Although this does get touched upon, the audience never really sees how much the loss affects the director though. Instead, choosing to focus on the wider causes and the way the US deals with mental health issues.

Whilst being a tribute to those who were lost and the ways in which death by suicide can affect so many people, This Much we Know won’t give any answers to why our loved ones may choose to take their own lives. Dismissing the larger issues such as gambling addiction and the fallout from nuclear waste in things such as rising cancer rates, This Much we Know seems only to know what it can get from a book.

It’s 1960, it’s Christmas time and everyone’s getting ready to spend some quality time with their families. Edgar Nowak is no different, a young baker with his whole life ahead of him, but sadly that was struck tragically short by an unknown assailant.

In the present day, Chris Nowak (Michael Kunicki), Edgar’s nephew is a documentary maker with an interest in the noir. Being inspired by the mystery surrounding his uncle’s death, Chris decides to investigate, something particularly spurred on by the time of year where the family remember their loss. Chris does some research and makes some calls, but soon his inquisitive nature lands him and his wife, Naomi (Isabella Alonso) in grave danger.

Silent as The Grave is a modern-day noir inspired thriller co-directed by Dan Gremley and Brad Podowski who also wrote the screenplay. Heavily inspired by the noir genre, directors Gremley and Podowski show that it still has relevance today by simultaneously updating and paying homage to it.

Chris’ investigation takes him deeper into the mysterious depths of his uncle’s murder and as with all good noir thrillers, the deeper he goes then the more he uncovers. However, also like all good noir thrillers, Silent as The Grave also keeps its audience intrigued and guessing right up until the final act.

Where there would have been trench coats and dangerous women, there are smartphones and expectant mothers, not to mention a few supporting characters who would have remembered the finer details of Edgar’s demise. This leads Chris’ personal journey to uncover the truth down a familiar direction for noir, but it also doesn’t feel all that unrealistic to what could happen today.

All the cast do well and Kunicki’s performance may not be the heroic protagonist who stares death in the face at every corner, but he makes for a good everyman which the audience can support.

Fans of the noir genre will have fun with Silent as The Grave as they spot the usual cliches and tropes brought right up to date. However, even those with a passing knowledge will see the potential of a genre perhaps long forgotten to cinema.

Julie (Ellie Harboe) is directing her first movie and it feels like a big deal, especially as they have such a big name as Iben Akerlie (playing herself) on board. Not to mention Dennis Storhøi (also playing himself) as the main villain in the story. Although despite what he says, Dennis is still looking to audition for his next role.

Julie’s other half is also getting along a little too well with Iben and her micromanaging of the cast and crew is getting on everybody’s nerves. Then one day a meteorite hits the earth right where they are driving to their next location.

An unusual occurrence indeed, but after ensuring everybody’s safety they carry on because they have to stick to a schedule. However, on closer inspection the meteorite may not be what they think and soon, strange things start happening.

Project Z is a horror comedy written and directed by Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken. Something which may have been inspired by things such as Shaun of The Dead, but comes across more like Judd Apatow’s The Bubble.

The concept of a group of actors filming a low budget horror movie only to find that the horror is quite real is an intriguing one. The audience may know what they’re getting into and it may ultimately feel formulaic, but if the jokes are good enough then it could have been satisfying.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be what Project Z wants to do, instead relying on most of the comedy revolving around pretentious actors and bored crew members trying to keep it together. This means that for the vast majority of the time, the audience may not even be aware that it’s meant to have a true horror element at all.

In fact, Project Z seems to have a rather derisive view of the horror genre and while trying to create mystery around what element may descend upon the filming location, it may just bore its audience. It’s a shame, but the ‘real’ horror happens far too late into the movie and the ending may just be one drawn out joke too many.

Arcade games were introduced in the early Eighties and were a big hit. It was a place where kids could hang out together relatively unsupervised and compete against each other in a variety of different games. However, that’s where home gaming came into effect. Capitalising on the success of games such as Donkey Kong, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, soon home consoles and computers were the places gamers wanted to be.

Although as they say, if you wait around long enough, then everything comes back into fashion and that’s exactly what happened with arcades. Nostalgia is a big pull and venues started popping up all over America where people could play arcade games old and new while enjoying the more adult beverages that they’d grown to love.

Token Taverns is a documentary directed by Bob Rose about just those kinds of places that were showing they still had relevance. Focussing on such bars as Vector and Reboot, Rose’s documentary goes a little into the history of gaming, but mainly soaks up the atmosphere of what it’s like to be a life-long gamer well into the 21^st Century.

With appearances from gaming icons such as Billy Mitchell and Walter Day, Token Taverns is a celebration of where we’ve been as gamers and where we might be going.

However, as with most documentaries in recent times there comes talk of the pandemic and how it changed lives for the worst as livelihoods were affected. Public places where gamers could converse and play together were under threat and sadly despite their best efforts of bending some rules and breaking others, it just wasn’t enough.

Thankfully though, the pandemic doesn’t become the focus of the documentary and it shows how places adapted and evolved to include all the gamers and their friends. Showing how gaming culture is just the same as every community, Token Taverns shows where everybody can go to who knows the abbreviated name you put on the scoreboard.

The kind of documentary which could have looked down its nose at its subject, it shows just how far the gaming community has come.

The search for the Loch Ness Monster has been a long and arduous one. A search which has brought up as many naysayers as it has genuine researchers trying to find the allusive creature. When a submarine goes missing in the famous loch however, it turns out this time there may be more truth to the myth.

Assembling a team to investigate led by Ewan (Rob Kirtley), the team soon realise that not only is the monster real, but they’ve only just scratched the surface as to what dangers lay deep beneath the surface.

The Loch Ness Horror is a horror movie written and directed by Tyler-James. A movie which mines the depths of what’s left to discover in terms of genre horror and finds that it’s been drained dry.

Not since Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey has there been a less deserving horror movie centred around a fantasy animal. It truly feels like nobody has ever asked the question ‘what if The Loch Ness Monster was malicious?’ but here we are. Although considering Tyler-James is a pseudonym for Rhys Frake Waterfield and Scott Jeffrey, the people behind the AA Milne inspired horror, then it’s not all that surprising.

However, for people who do want to watch a horror movie which tries to set a tone and create an atmosphere, then The Loch Ness Horror still may have something. That something is heavily borrowed from Alien though, which makes the movie feel like the production had access to a specific location and built a story around it.

Hopefully, nobody who watches a movie entitled The Loch Ness Horror is going to expect anything too special and this is where the movie delivers. It’s simply one of those low budget horror movies where they had the ambition and not the budget. This means that despite the potentially interesting setting and the tenuous link to the Scottish myth, a lot of the action happens off screen while actors talk about it.

There is something rather fun about these kinds of movies, but unfortunately The Loch Ness Horror takes itself too seriously. The cast do their best as they should be expected to do, but there isn’t even a ‘so bad it’s good’ quality to keep the audience interested.