Horror

Agnes

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Agnes
  • IMDb: link

Agnes is an odd film. Actually, it’s two odd films strung together loosely by a single thread, neither of which leaves the audience with any kind of resolution (although one could argue that’s the point of the second storyline). In some ways it’s the most frustrating film of 2021 as so much is wasted on a bi-polar tale that at times seems as lost as the nuns themselves.

The first-half of the film is a delightful exorcism plot of a priest (Ben Hall) who is facing damning charges of inappropriate behavior with children, but also with experience in the act of exorcism, but who doesn’t really believe in the rights or demons, and a neophyte (Jake Horowitz) who has not yet taken his vows, sent to a nunnery where Sister Agnes (Hayley McFarland) has shown signs of possession. We also get a defrocked priest (Chris Browning) turned sleazy celebrity for his work in the field, added to the mix when our overwhelmed priest turns to him for help.

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Werewolves Within

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Werewolves Within
  • IMDb: link

Through the eyes of its newest resident, demoted but cheery Forest Ranger Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson), we’re introduced to the odd mountain town of Beaverfield. Part horror, part comedy, and part whodunnit, Werewolves Within throws the likable Finn into the odd setting in which any member of the town might be a werewolf. Now can he find the wolf before it kills them or before the town full of lunatics kills each other?

Adapted from the video game of the same name by screenwriter Mishna Wolff and director Josh Ruben, Werewolves Within offers an enjoyable romp with a number of oddball locals played by the likes of George Basil, Sarah Burns, Catherine Curtin, Wayne Duvall, Rebecca Henderson, Glenn Fleshler, and Milana Vayntrub as the town’s only mail carrier.

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Benedetta

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Benedetta
  • IMDb: link

Inspired by the life of 17th Century nun Benedetta Carlini, Virginie Efira stars in the title role as a nun with visions and dreams of Jesus (Jonathan Couzinié). After the arrival of a young woman named Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia), to whom she has an obvious attraction, Benedetta begins having fevered dreams and one day appears with stigmata allowing for her advancement over the current abbess (Charlotte Rampling). This immediately causes turmoil within the covenant which is only furthered by charges against both Benedetta and Bartolomea for the carnal nature of their relationship.

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Ghostbusters: Afterlife

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Ghostbusters: Afterlife
  • IMDb: link

It’s impossible to make a Ghostbusters film funny as the original; even the original cast and crew could only muster up Ghostbusters II. Realizing this, Ghosbusters: Afterlife takes an unexpected approach of not offering a comedy but rather instead a family drama wrapped in the trappings of the Ghostbusters franchise. The choice is likely to surprise and anger some fans. Sure, there’s humor (much of it from Paul Rudd as the wacky summer school teacher), but the driving momentum behind the story isn’t for big laughs but for the family, and their new friends, coming together to save the town, and the world, from ghosts.

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Chilling Adventures in Sorcery

/ / Comics

Archie Comics offers up this only sorta spooky anthology one-shot for Halloween. “A Walk Through Hell” works to tie the various stories together. It stars with an intern, who turns out to be Archie, getting Madam Satan lost on the River Styx. She spends the rest of the issue trying to get to through the gates of Hell but not before running into another Archie character with a story to tell.

I was a bit surprised there weren’t more stories here, expecting to see various other classic Archie characters. In “Living On, Part Time” Archie takes a job as a security guard at the Riverdale Arcade which turns out to be full of monsters in what’s hard not to see rip-off of Willy’s Wonderland. And in “Midnight Shack” the overeating Jughead is eaten by the leftovers he brought home.

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