film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Joel Fisher

  • The Secret Of Sinchanee: Review

    The Secret Of Sinchanee: Review

    The Secret Of Sinchanee: Review

    Will Stark (Steven Grayhm) has just lost his father and is forced to go back home and confront his past. He’s also an insomniac, so he may not be in the best state of mind to deal with the pressures of having to decide what to do with his family home and grief is taking its toll.

    Then Will starts to have some unusual experiences and hallucinations which he starts to believe are connected to a spirit haunting his house.

    Detective Carrie Donovan (Tamara Austin) is also conducting an investigation into the supernatural, but it all leads back to a legend of Sinchanee, a vengeful spirit that haunts burial grounds of Native Americans. However, with neither Will or Detective Donovan knowing about each other, their experiences with Sinchanee become quite different as Will starts to feel the hold of Sinchanee and Detective Donovan gets closer to the legend.

    The Secret of Sinchanee is a supernatural folklore-based horror written, directed by and starring Steven Grayhm in his directorial debut. Unfortunately, it seems that besides the intriguing set up which remind audiences of Stephen King’s earlier work, there’s just a bit too much going on at once.

    The two stories don’t really seem to match up and it’s to the point where Grayhm should have perhaps stuck to one story or the other. This feels evident in the film because just as one storyline with Will gets going it cuts back to Detective Donovan and vice versa. The film takes a long time to get going as well. In a film that’s nearly two hours long it feels like something could have been cut.

    With its references to familiar tropes of horror, it’s clear that Grayhm knows what he’s doing in terms of story. It just feels too ambitious where perhaps the director is trying to subvert the subgenres by combining the two.

    There’s also the questionable use of the tried and tested Native American spirit which has proven to be problematic through overuse in the genre. Overall, there really is no secret to Sinchanee and with a better editor the film could have given a better story.

  • Implanted: Review

    Implanted: Review

    In the not-too-distant future, a pharmaceutical company called Dynamic Health Cure have done just that – they’ve created a dynamic health cure called L.E.X.X. Still in its early trial period, Sarah (Michelle Girolami) decides to take a chance and go ahead with the treatment which will implant and artificial intelligence chip into her spine which will help her stay healthier, eradicating any sign of disease or illness.

    With the money that the company will give her, Sarah thinks she has nothing to lose. Unfortunately, when L.E.X.X. activates and starts holding her body hostage she realises that she has everything to lose and L.E.X.X. cannot be stopped.

    Implanted is a sci-fi thriller directed by Fabien Dufils and co-written by David Bourgie. Clearly inspired by Upgrade, Implanted serves as something of an unofficial sequel with a new character in a somewhat more urgent and dangerous situation.

    Soon after Sarah gets acquainted with her new AI companion, things start to go wrong as she realises the consequences of her actions. L.E.X.X. demands that she follow her orders to the letter or else be killed by the implant which is supposed to be saving her life. Clearly distraught and overwhelmed by her situation, Sarah sees that she doesn’t have a choice. So, being torn between caring for her sick mother and having her life being put on the line, Sarah goes through with L.E.X.X.’s plan and the killing spree she has in mind.

    Implanted is indeed a well-made drama and for those who have not seen Upgrade then they may find the film to be something refreshing and thoughtful. However, for those who have already seen Leigh Whannell’s 2018 thriller then the comparisons will be hard to deny and the faults with Implanted will soon become clear.

    At first there really doesn’t seem to be much of a reason for Sarah’s decision to take up the experimental treatment. However, as the story unfolds the audience sees her decision process and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much behind it. Sarah seems like an ordinary woman with a nice life and that really isn’t enough for an audience to care about a protagonist.

    Secondly, whereas Upgrade had its twists and turns, Implanted is rather straightforward and so once L.E.X.X.’s plans follow through, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere else for the story to go. The reasons behind L.E.X.X.’s plans are also not as well thought out, so where there could have been a bond between host and parasite, it never feels like a worthy cause. A good attempt at trying to do something that other filmmakers have done better, but it clearly shows that it doesn’t have the depth to succeed.

  • Runt: Review

    Runt: Review

    Cal (Cameron Boyce) is getting bullied at school, he’s getting beaten up and accused of things he didn’t do and he feels trapped. Then he meets Cecily (Nicole Elizabeth Berger) who’s boyfriend is Vic (Aramis Knight), one of Cal’s bullies and when Vic finds out the bullying only gets worse.

    Even Cal’s friend known as D-Rat Ronnie (Charlie Gillespie) thinks that Cal’s being weak for not standing up to Vic and his friends. This pushes Cal to breaking point and the results are far more extreme than anyone was expecting.

    Runt is a high school psychological thriller which talks about what happens when a teenager is left alone without adult supervision and a positive outlet. However, there really is nothing realistic or heartfelt about the drama which may lead its audience to believe that the filmmakers wanted to address any real teenage problems. Instead, Runt turns into a violent thriller where a teenage boy gets pushed too far and takes his unmeasured revenge.

    In terms of bullying, Runt seems to pull its punches when it shows the extent of Cal’s bullying, so when Cal does decide to take his revenge, it comes across as a reaction to a relatively mild inconvenience. To Boyce’s credit, he does play his role with all the heightened aggression and unhinged behaviour of somebody with deep mental health issues, but this is where the film fails.

    What could have been a nuanced exploration of bullying, toxic masculinity and peer pressure turns into something crossed between John Wick and American Pie.

    Cal’s response to his bullying also undermines the issues that real teenagers face when being bullied.  At some point the audience is even led to believe that it might make light of gun violence in schools, although it thankfully doesn’t go that far. Also, the supposed love interest between Cal and Cecily feels a little creepy and unrealistic because the audience assume that Cecily must know what Cal has been doing, but she still finds him attractive.

    Worst of all though is the use of Cameron Boyce at the end of the film who sadly died before Runt was released. The film ends with a passage telling the audience about Boyce’s passion to help teenagers with their mental health, but only comes across as a way to change the tone of what the audience has just seen. Runt is woefully misjudged and crass in its execution, something audiences should avoid.

  • The Call: Review

    The Call: Review

    Chris (Chester Rushing), Tonya (Erin Sanders), Zack (Mike Manning) and Brett (Sloan Morgan Siegel) are all friends in high school. The year is 1987 and they’re the typical types of teenagers you may find in a horror movie such as this from the era. However, the urban legend of a couple who live down the street drives the story as it’s said that Edith Cranston (Lin Shaye) was responsible for a child’s death.

    So, being the bored and rebellious teenagers that they are, they decide to show her exactly what they think of her and start throwing things at her house. However, she soon comes out to tell them exactly what she thinks of them and retreats back into the house, a broken woman.

    Later on, they hear that Edith has killed herself and it’s all their fault, however Edith’s husband, Edward (Tobin Bell) invites them into their house. Because despite what she thought of them while she was alive, Edward says she’s left them money – and he wants to play a game.

    The Call is an 80’s throwback horror movie with a contained concept which may remind audiences of many other films they’ve seen before. As the game begins, the teenagers are all sent to separate rooms and told to pick up a phone when it starts ringing, although what they don’t realise is that the call will force them to fight for their lives.

    With supposed homages to other movies like Stephen King’s IT and of course the Saw franchise, horror fans may know exactly where this is going. Unfortunately, they may very well be right as although The Call has an interesting premise, it offers little to no originality to keep the audience invested.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTTGe2sJOU

    Shaye and Bell are the obvious attraction for horror fans as they’ve made their names in the Insidious franchise and the Saw Franchise respectively. The problem is that much like the teenagers in the movie, once they’ve got to a certain point, they may start to realise that they were brought there under false pretences due to the horror icons lack of screen time.

    The Call is far more interested in its visuals than telling a coherent and compelling story, so after a while audiences may be forgiven if they wanted to hang up.

  • Like A Dirty French Novel: Review

    Like A Dirty French Novel: Review

    During the pandemic there have been many things that have happened that have changed our lives for the worst or changed them in ways we would never have expected. There have been losses, births and new opportunities as well as the parting of old ones. Like a Dirty French Novel is an anthology movie which aims to put together a series of stories in what it describes as a Grindhouse style, but unfortunately it seems that it’s gone for student arthouse rather than adult Grindhouse.

    There are many characters in the movie, each with their own stories and very little of which makes any sense. The most extravagantly named character is Filmore Demille (Mike Cuenca), a man who ends up in some kind of phone relationship which quickly diverts into a sexual nature.

    However, to tell you any more about that story would spoil it and also require a rather lengthy explanation. It’s also hard to tell whether the characters or the actors would understand it themselves.

    When audiences think of Grindhouse they clearly think of the collaboration of Tarantino/Rodriguez on Death Proof and Planet Terror. So, going in there are certainly these kinds of expectations and the opening message tells the audience that the stories were inspired and were shot during 2020.

    This may mean to an audience that they would expect some kind of ultra-violence, maybe a little nudity and perhaps some outlandish stunts. The problem seems to be that in order to pull in an audience, it may have misled them because it bares very little resemblance to the genre.

    It would have been fine if the stories in Like a Dirty French Novel were interesting and if the characters were fun to watch and if the acting was at least passable. As it turns out, Like a Dirty French Novel has none of these elements and sadly at a run time of just under eighty minutes, it makes it feel much longer.

    Like a Dirty French Novel has a hastily slapped together script with a poor cast and confusing dialogue, and sadly it screams for attention but barely warrants a glance.